


Somebody to die for

by Schreibmaschine



Series: Broken Souls and Healing Hearts [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: A LOT of violence, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Angst with a Happy Ending, Discrimination, M/M, Post-Peaceful Android Revolution (Detroit: Become Human), Social Hierarchy, Suicide, This is a dark story, Werewolves, character actively tries to commit suicide, doesn't succeed, fluff in between, illegal dogfights, pit-fights, the rest is the same, werewolf!Gavin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-11-15 08:33:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 27,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20863298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Schreibmaschine/pseuds/Schreibmaschine
Summary: A dog's reason to exist is to serve his owner and keep him safe. A dog who can't keep up his end of the deal is useless. A dog who has no owner is useless. Uselessness means death.Gavin, a former police werewolf, ended up in a dog-fighting ring. Being pitted against his own kind in battles to the death he soon looses all will to live.RK900, a deviant remaining machine, has to care for him and keep him alive through his self-destructive actions because he is their only witness. He soon learns to embrace his deviancy and his feelings towards the werewolf and tries to safe him from the worst fate.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Please, DON'T read this if you are sensible to topics like suicide, death, violence and indifference towards suicidal characters. If you are fine with some darker stuff, then please continue, there is also a bit of fluff in between. Enjoy!
> 
> Story title from the song "Somebody to die for" by Hurts

A dog's reason to exist is to serve his owner and keep him safe. A dog who can't keep up his end of the deal is useless. A dog who has no owner is useless. Uselessness means death.

These words were a constant in Gavin's life. Once just a faint reminder when he doubted whether what he did was right. Then a warning to keep out of human's reach. Now nothing else but a mantra, a thought from another time, a better time. A fraction of order and sanity in a chaotic world. A feeling of right and wrong in utter immorality.  
Though it didn't wash away the taste of blood. It didn't free him of the smell of fear and despair and hurt. It didn't let the screams fade in the night. It didn't allow him to forget the names and the faces. No, it did jack shit against that. Just another forgotten link to a forgotten memory to a forgotten life of a forgotten man.  
A man that had been strong. A man that had felt as if he could take on the whole world. A man that was free but didn't realise it until it was too late. A man that was but a corpse in his mind, an empty hull now. All that had been him had bled out of his numerous wounds, had been removed for the steel-beams of indifference and replaced by the only thought he had left, the only thought that mattered: survive.

Survive the next day. Survive the next fight. Survive the next hours, minutes, seconds. Never asking himself why he should survive, because there was no reason for him despite survival itself.  
Survive this beast of a wolf in front of you. If you don’t survive you are dead. If you are dead, you are not alive. You want to be alive, right? You are supposed to want to be alive.

His opponent reeked of human, of fear and pain, blood and dirt and silver. He smelled like any other champion did. Well, the younger ones sometimes held a note of their lives before, be it a real home or wherever they found refuge in a hostile world. This one had been in this fight for a long time. Enough time to lose any hope of escape. There were no desperate tries to find a hole in the silver-coated fence, to find a human face in the howling masses behind that showed empathy. There was just his fixed gaze on Gavin, and he knew there was just one thought in his head, too: Kill to live.

Gavin waited for the other wolf to attack. He was bigger, more muscular and heavier. Maybe his humans actually knew what to feed him. The big grey beast towered before him and growled at him, provoking him to jump right into his demise. But Gavin was clever. He needed the other to come at him, so he could use the minimal space to his advantage in speed and agility. The other wolf was patient, but as his owner hit a metal bat against the cage inclosing the arena, he winced and started running. Gavin ducked deep onto the ground to jump out of his way last minute. He had planned to bite at the other’s legs, but his opponent was faster than his physique had suggested: Claws dug into his side and ripped out a chunk of skin and fur. The audience ravished in the first blood drawn this evening and Gavin struggled to get more space between them. But the grey beast pushed him off-balance and pinned him to the ground.

The shouts and chanting got louder out of sudden, the lights brighter and the smell more intense. It always got too much when Gavin knew he was about to lose if he didn’t act fast. He saw the sharp teeth, spittle dripping from them as they shot down to clench around his throat. Panicked, Gavin pushed as hard as he could with his hind legs, keeping the wolf and his weapons at a distance and pushing himself out of the confines. In a rush of fur and claws he was on top and tasted blood on his own, digging into the wolf’s neck. The grey giant struggled, trying to shake him off. But every move just made Gavin sink in deeper into his flesh. His opponent whined in pain and more than anything else Gavin wished to be allowed to let go, to brush against the other and licking each other’s wounds in this unjust world. But he was lucky enough to be in this position. Would he let go, he would be as good as dead.

In a desperate attempt to get free, the grey wolf found his left hind leg and bit down. Gavin felt teeth connect with bone and the pain gave him the strength to bite down even harder, thrashing at his throat with his other legs. It was a bloody mess, it was painful, and it was cruel, but the grey beast didn’t allow Gavin to end it fast and clean. He struggled until the blood-loss had weakened him enough to force him down. Finally, Gavin could let go of the other that slumped to the ground and breathed troubled.

“I’m so sorry”, he whispered, as he tried to comfort the dying wolf. “I will try to change things. Everything will be alright. You will find peace now.” Empty words and empty promises. He would never change things. Nothing would be alright. Peace was something only found in a death that he denied himself in fear of what would come would he search for it.  
He didn’t struggle as the extraction poles connected with his collar and he was pulled back to his transport crate to be driven back to that cellar. He looked at the cheering humans, announcing his victory as if it was something to be proud of. Some wolves were. Those broken enough to imagine this was just and sport. But Gavin knew he would sooner die than become like them. Not when the bleeding out grey wolf still laid in the sand of the arena. Denied the comfort of someone next to him. Forced to die alone and in pain, forced to hold onto life with every broken fibre of his body and soul when he knew time was running out.  
The transport crate was already shut and disconnected from the arena as Gavin heard the beast's last breath. He closed his eyes and oh, how he ached to cry. How he wanted to let his emotions out, how he wanted to lash out and kill every last one of those who forced his kind to do this. But he couldn’t. The transport box was too little to curl up in and tears simply wouldn’t come. Had never come, since that first fight of his. No, he was alone, he was wounded and worst of all:

He was powerless.


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin has to recover from his last fight and is promptly thrown into the next.

After an endless drive with nothing but the memories of the fight keeping him company, Gavin was pushed out of the box back into his cage in the cellar of a seemingly regular house. Immediately some human doctor came walking down the stairs, not hurried at all while Gavin was bleeding and in pain. The guy reached through the bars and Gavin snapped at the hands, as he always did. He didn’t need their help, he would rather lay here, hurting and weak than let this human’s hands anywhere near him. The doctor leaned back, sighed and called up the stairs: “Send down the TR400! It’s resisting again.”

A buff android arrived immediately, and Gavin tried to slither as far away from the thing as possible. But heavily wounded he was too slow: The android had grabbed the leg the grey wolf had bitten down on and pulled it towards him, until it was safely stretched out through the bars. It hurt even more than before now that there was strain on the wounded tissue and Gavin pushed his snout through the bars, ignoring the burn of the silver. Anything to get them away from him. It earned him a punch down on it from a metal fist and that very same hand at his throat not much later, keeping him down. Gavin continued to struggle, but it was but a sad display of discomfort, now that he was helpless against them.

‘Your dog, I swear man’, the doctor shook his head at Gavin’s owner that had come down to watch with an ugly smile on his face. ‘What’s with it?’, he laughed, and Gavin shuddered at the sound, unable to see anything but the android from where he laid. ‘I know it’s a dumb piece of shit that doesn’t know it’s place. No wonder, thinking I got him from the execution row. Who knows what brought it there.’  
‘But doesn’t it know it will heal better with my help? You can’t tell me it is that dumb. Not even an animal like him enjoys pain.’  
‘You think too much’, Gavin’s owner commented, voice frozen over now. He didn’t like people starting to get even remotely empathic with werewolves and although he knew the doctor wasn’t one of them, he was cautious.

Gavin still had had hope in the beginning. Thinking someone who knew how to treat his kind wouldn’t mean him harm. It had been naïve. His owner had bailed the man out of jail for running an illegal “research lab” that was just an even worse hell than what Gavin was in now. No. There was no one on his side here. Not the humans holding him captive, not their plastic toy they ordered around, no one. His only comfort were the other wolves in the arena and them he had to kill.

He sighed when he was finally left alone to curl up in the one corner, he had kept clean in the cage that no one bothered to really wash. The android removed most of his waste when he was at a fight, but the stench of urine and his own shit lingered to become a constant background-smell he had tried to learn to ignore but failed horribly at. Sometime later the android brought him water and some dogfood, then left. Gavin ate without tasting it and curled back up, trying to sleep. His leg and side pounded with the beat of his heart and his whole body ached. His soul was a whole different thing.

Sleeping and healing and waiting for the next fight. An endless monotony of cruelty and senseless bloodshed. This was no life. This was a worthless existence as piece of living meat that tried to hold onto a personality, that was too stubborn to let go of the will to live, the hope it would eventually get better if he simply held on.

‘You did good today.’ Gavin opened his eyes hesitantly to the voice of his master. He just wanted to sleep, wanted to forget and be forgotten. He didn’t want to listen to what humans had to say. But he had to. There was too much of a fear what the man would do would he not.  
‘Put up a real nice fight. I have to say, as I saw the grey bitch, I thought I had to search for a new champion. Was a real nice show, the suspense when he nearly killed you. Perfect! And then the struggle of a dying dog. There isn’t much better to be seen in this world.’  
He grinned, and hadn’t Gavin known that the sorry meal from before was the only one for that day, he would have thrown up at the sight of it. ‘Now be a good boy and come here, you deserved yourself a treat.’  
Gavin didn’t want to know what that “treat” was supposed to be. There was no good coming from the man, no truly nice word, no friendly action. Just pretence laced with hidden mischief and evil.  
‘I said: come here!’, the man ordered, and the mask of sympathy had left his tone completely. Gavin didn’t dare to disobey; he knew what would happen then. He got up and limped over, not using his bandaged leg. He sat down near the bars of his cell, just out of reach of his master.  
‘Put your ugly little face through the bars, I want to pet you.’  
Gavin couldn’t suppress a whine at that. He really didn’t want that human to touch him.  
‘Come on, I know you want it. I know you will enjoy it. Get your fucking face here!’

Gavin stayed where he sat. He wouldn’t get anywhere near him, never. He wouldn’t let himself be degraded even more, the humiliation of being a champion sleeping in his own waste was enough already, he didn’t need to become a lapdog.   
‘You know what happens if you disobey, right?’ The voice was like ice, creeping through his hide and into his skin, slithering along his spine. ‘You know I don’t give a shit about you. You won me enough money to buy two new champions. I just like you because I already broke you and you do good in the arenas. But if you don’t obey, I can schedule a fight for tomorrow. See how much a wounded animal can cry through its death. It’s your choice. A little humiliation or death?’  
Gavin felt like crying again. He hated being helpless. He hated having to comply with the human. He hated that the tears would never come. He hated that he pushed his snout through the bars, closing his eyes at the sting of the silver and what was about to come.

‘Hehe, see. An easy decision, isn’t it? That’s my bitch.’ Gavin felt the hand before it touched him, and he flinched at the contact. He wanted to run, he wanted to run far away, as far as he could. The hand brushed over his head and ears in a steady rhythm and in any other situation he would have wallowed in it. But not now. Not here. Not with _him. _He realised his whole body was shivering, but he couldn’t stop it.

‘When has been the last time you were touched without ill intend, huh? I know you are just a little bitch that yearns for attention. Bet soon you’ll wag your tail for me like crazy, too. You couldn’t resist it, even though I abuse you in the worst way possible. You would beg for affection from a human that forces you to fight your own kind. Pretty fucked up, wouldn’t you say?’  
Gavin forced himself to sit still, the shiver was the only movement he allowed himself. _Pretend it’s her. Pretend it’s a memory. Pretend it’s Mrs. Anderson. _

But it wasn’t. It was this cruel human, this man without any good. It was rare for a werewolf to receive love from their handlers and Gavin had never gotten any. But there hadn’t been pain. No harm inflicted by her. He had lived with them, the humans had each other and Gavin was sworn to protect. He did his duty and served them and in return got appreciation for a job well done. How could he have ever complained about it? How could he have screamed injustice and slavery at them? They had been good to him. They had been good to a discarded being, granted him life and freedom to the extend they felt safe in. Maybe if he… Maybe if he had accepted that, she wouldn’t have left him behind after he failed his most important mission. Maybe-

‘You still listening, bitch? Get well soon.’ It was spoken without empathy. ‘You don’t want to lose the next fight.’  
Right. He wasn’t with the Andersons anymore. Hadn’t been for a long time. Would never be again. He would die in these arenas someday. Left alone by his opponent between humans cheering his death while he bled out slowly and painfully. And until then… he would kill and heal and wait and get hurt again. The endless mad cycle.

The next fight was two days later in the evening. Gavin had been shoved into the transport box, loaded into a car and driven God knows where. Still sore but not aching anymore he sat quietly. It had no use to bark, to whine, to scratch. No one would hear him. And even if someone did, no one would care.

Steel-poles heavy at his collar kept him from escaping being transferred from the box into the holding booth of the arena, where he had to wait. He still struggled, but it was just for show. To convince himself he hadn’t given up yet, even if it was pointless to fight an already lost battle. The door was shut behind him and he laid down to wait. He took in the scent of the other werewolves. Mostly it was human, dirt, despair, hurt and fear, but there was the hint of their individual smell underneath. The last evidence they were still themselves underneath all that heavy load. He remembered it. He took it all in so he would find them or recognise them again should he see them in the ring. Should he fight them. Next to him someone whined as the fight in the arena ended and blood flooded every last receptor in their noses. Someone so deeply afraid. Someone inexperienced. Maybe this was their first fight? Gavin had never been the social type. But more than anything he wanted to comfort that stranger. Because this was hell – utter hell. And no one deserved to be alone in this. He pushed his snout into the bars, ignored the familiar needles the silver pushed into the bridge of his nose. He huffed out air a few times, there was nothing else he could do as the tingling sensation from the silver grew worse with every second. But the whining stopped, he saw a little pink nose reaching up to him and that strong scent. Yes. First battle. God, was she young…

Many fights began and ended before Gavin was prodded out into the arena. The white wolf hadn’t been battling either. _Please don’t let it be her, please don’t let it be her. Don’t force me to kill her, God, no. Anyone. Give me the biggest, strongest wolf you want, just please not her._

Afterwards Gavin asked himself why he had even bothered. He should have expected there was no mercy in this cruel universe. The opposite door was opened and out came the white wolf. She was beautiful. Maybe the sick phck that send her to battle had even washed her beforehand, made her this beautiful just to be pushed into this mess. Just for plush white to turn sticky red. She couldn’t be older than twenty – not illegal in the rules of the fighting arenas, but still too young of a life to end here. Gavin felt sick at the thought of having to fight her. Maybe he should let her win. End his miserable life and give her a chance. Yeah, he would be thankful to be killed by her. The white one would remember him. He would be put out of his misery. It was best for them all.

He was walking into this fight with every intention to die and it was the best he felt in years under the order of his master. The wolf started to whimper again as he trotted nearer. Gavin growled for the audience who knew him as nothing but a viscous fighter that held onto life no matter his wounds. But then he spoke to her calmly and as soothing as he could manage: ‘It’s okay. What is your name?’  
‘I am Lucy.’  
‘Alright. First fight?’  
‘Yes. I don’t want to fight you.’  
‘I know. But it’s alright. I want to die.’ He couldn’t sense a lie in what he told her and wondered how he could have held up the pretence so long. ‘I want you to kill me. You will survive. Maybe you can escape. Keep up your hope. Remember me and get out of here for me. For all our brothers and sisters.’  
‘I won’t kill you!’  
‘And I won’t kill _you_. But they will force us to. If you don’t fight me, they will kill us both. And that would be senseless, wouldn’t it? Someone has to end this, and it won’t be me. I’ve given up a long time ago.’

The masses outside the arena grew impatient. No one wanted to see just two wolves in a pen. They wanted blood. They wanted death. Soon someone would lose their temper. _Please, let her see it. Let her see what I’ve seen. Let her accept. Take me. _  
‘Attack! Bitch, kill it!’ He heard the distant screams of his master and shuddered again.  
‘Please, Lucy. Please kill me!’  
If he had to beg so be it. He would beg like the dog he had become. It would be all over soon anyways.

There was an electric prod shoved into his side and he yelped at the current. It was meant to motivate. But the pain stung nonetheless.  
‘No, I won’t kill.’  
Gavin held his stance, endured the second contact with the elongated arm of his master. ‘You have to. Please.’  
‘I won’t.’  
Another zap with the prods, this time from both sides and Gavin jumped forwards out of reflex. He practically felt his master’s patience running out and he was frustrated beyond safe measures. He had kept his hope up for so long. He had killed countless times and killed himself with it in the process. He had endured the humiliation; he had endured the pain and the slow process of being broken down. He had finally come clean with himself, had managed to build up the courage to let go, let someone else take over. He had finally allowed himself to become a coward and end it. And now as he embraced the exit from this cruelty, the universe pulled it away from him.

‘Then I’m going to force you to! ‘, Gavin cried out and lunged at the smaller wolf, lashing out and ripping a long wound through skin and flesh with his claws. Then he jumped back to slowly circle around her. Maybe that would ease the crowd for a bit. The white one whimpered and tried to run away, just to be met with the electric prods. There were many now. They slowly circled at the edges of the arena, forcing them to stay close, to have little space so they would be more eager to fight maybe. But Gavin didn’t advance. He just pleaded for his life to be ended. He didn’t move as there were burn marks all over his body from the prods and as his master shouted at him to kill, to draw more blood, to end this. But nothing had any effect on him. Not the threats of what he would do to him would he not obey, not the pain. He had decided he wouldn’t let them control him. And this was the strongest he had felt in ages.

Until there was a stark pain in his back. A pain unlike all he had felt until now. He turned to see there was a silver knife attached to the end of one of the prods and that very knife embedded in his side. He saw his master grin as he activated the current that was pushed straight into his body. Gavin cried out and his legs gave out from under him. It was too much, it was all too much, let it end! Let it end! He was pushed back into reality as he felt something warm between his jaws. Between one of his cries Lucy had pushed her throat in between his teeth. At the same time his master activated the current again and Gavin bit down.

The crowd exploded outside the arena, but Gavin couldn’t move. He laid there, foreign blood coating his mouth and silver burning inside his back. Why? Why couldn’t he have been killed? Why did it have to be her? Right. Because there was no mercy. He had never been in control. He had never held the power. His master did.

‘Send in another one. Need to teach him a lesson.’ Tiredly he looked over to where his master grinned at him as if he knew what he was thinking. The door opened. A beast of a wolf entered, not any more stable than Gavin was, having heard the conversation from the side. But the new wolf was determined, she would kill him. Was it out of pity or for killing the little one, Gavin didn’t know. He wanted to die for both reasons.

She approached him laying in the middle of the field, licked once across his face and cooed: ‘Don’t worry. It’s not your fault. It’s theirs. I will kill you. I will grant you peace. I’m just asking for a wound that will scar. I want to remember you. I want to share a part of your pain. Gavin didn’t feel like moving at all, but he stood up. There was no better chance but now. They paced around each other next to the dead, white body and Gavin took the first jump to score. He dug his claws deep into her shoulder, ripping out a chunk of flesh that would leave a patch in her pelt that would never grow fur again. There were many such parts on her body. A way to be remembered. After that, it was a fight just for show, so that the humans wouldn’t recognise the end had been determined before the fight had started. Gavin lunged at her and she drew wound after wound, weakening him and letting him loose more blood than he ever had. In the haze of his last moments of strength his instincts kicked in and Gavin fought for survival once more. But the other wolf was fast. Gavin doubted to have beaten her even if he had tried. She evaded most of his attacks and threw him through the arena until he laid in the sand, motionless. The crowd was wild again, happy about being gifted a real show, a fight to remember, as the other wolf came close, nearly majestically in her motions. She reminded him of Mrs. Anderson – as much as a werewolf could remind him of a human. Maybe he would see them again. He didn’t believe in a life after death, but he would be glad now if there was.

He closed his eyes in a smile as he felt the teeth close in, awaiting his final moments.

And then suddenly they were gone and outside of the cage all hell broke loose.


	3. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Old places, old faces - new horrors.

The first slow inhale brought clean air. Air free of the stench of blood and excrements, free of other wolves’ emotions. Gavin just smelled himself, the dirt in his pelt that no one had cared to clean in all these years. The second troubled inhale punched his consciousness to action: He struggled to get to his feet, falling down again and again, but fighting through his pain flaring up _everywhere _because there had to be his opponents and he had to be in the arena still and he would die if he didn’t move and - and _oh god, he didn’t want to die!_

‘Shhh, hey, stay down. Everything is alright.’  
_Nothing is alright, nothing is alright, nothing is ever alright, it’s only ever cruel and wrong and-_  
He wasn’t in the arena. He wasn’t in his transport box either. And this wasn’t his cell.  
He forced himself to calm down and take in his surroundings: Clean white tiles at the walls, immaculate grey floor. He himself had been bandaged and his wounds had been cared for. What on earth had happened? He fell down again, shaking legs exhausted just by trying to stand. That was when he saw the glass window. And what laid beyond. Instinctively he scooted back into the farthest corner to get as much space between himself, the human squatting outside and a motionless android perched behind her. Then he shivered. He knew this place… Where did he know this place from?

‘Everything is alright, calm down. I won’t hurt you, I promise.’  
Gavin eyed the woman up and down. It was a familiar face, he had seen her somewhere already, he knew her name. It was something with T…  
‘Tina! RK told Connor it is finally awake?’ Another human had spoken from outside of his vision. The sound of the voice familiar too, if much rougher and more tired.  
‘Yeah. Just woke up.’  
‘Good. Will you come with me? It’s dangerous.’  
Phck just where did he knew this voice from? Why were his thoughts so slow? He was awake, why did he still feel so sluggish and numb?  
‘I’m coming, Lieutenant. RK, you keeping an eye on it?’  
The android nodded as the human got up and hurried away. Gavin focussed on the android still standing in front of his cell but as far away as possible. Out of fear? Consideration? Indifference? Disgust?

The android was staring at him and it made Gavin uncomfortable. He wasn’t some specimen in a looking glass, even if he was in a similar situation. He returned the stare, tried to withstand those grey eyes like steel-beams frozen over. But eventually he had to break contact. It unnerved him how utterly artificial the tin-cans could be. After his experience of androids being used to handle wolves in the arena, he had learned to keep as far away from them as possible. Being stared at as if one wrong move could trigger the hidden protocols didn’t help. He tried to distract himself by pulling through the haze of his mind. He had been in the arena. There had been white… and grey and… Well, a great rush of pain and red, but… He had been weak. He had been killed, hadn’t he? How… Why was he here? And where was here? He had been here before, he _knew_ it. Come on, come on, remember!

‘Right, just let me handle it, I have some experience with them.’ That was the other human again, this Lieutenant. That voice he somehow knew and didn’t.  
The woman from before wandered into his vision and joined the android in the backseat that still hadn’t moved his eyes from him. She smiled at him, a real honest smile Gavin didn’t believe in and announced the new human arriving: ‘This is a colleague of mine, he won’t harm you, I promise. You don’t have anything to worry about. This is-‘  
‘Hank!’ Gavin was up on his feet again, staggering a bit, but managed to take a few steps forward, trying to move as closely as he could to the glass. Towards the newly arriving human.  
‘Hank! I’m so glad to see you again! You wouldn’t believe what I’ve been through, I’m sorry, you hear that? I’m sorry for what happened, I should have been there! I’m-‘  
His sudden movement together with his barks a human couldn’t understand, he might have given them the wrong impression. The android had his weapon trained on him and had shoved Tina out of the way of harm. Hank simply stood there, staring at him. He would recognise him, right? He would see that it was him. Yes, Gavin was dirty and wounded, fur full of knots and far too long, but they lived together for so many years. The man had to recognise him. Give him a chance to explain himself, now that the universe had brought them together for some reason. Hank held eye-contact for a long time, Gavin begging him to see, to understand. But then he turned to Tina without any sign of recognition and excused himself. ‘Thought I could help, but I seem to make things worse with it.’

‘No, Hank come back!’ Gavin barked out and took another uncertain step towards the glass. ‘It’s me, Gavin! Please, don’t leave me again! I’m sorry for not being there! I’m so sorry that I couldn’t protect Cole! I… I just… I should have been there…’ A low whine escaped his throat as the man was long gone.  
‘It’s alright, the big scary man is gone now.’  
Gavin had been so preoccupied seeing some remembrance of his old life, that he had not realised how near he had come to the woman and the android that still held the gun ready to shoot. Frozen at the sudden body in front of him he pressed himself down onto the ground. He was too panicked to even think about the disrespectful way she talked to him. He wasn’t a dog. He wasn’t a scared animal. Or was he?  
‘I’ll have to go now. But my partner will stay, if you need anything… Well, you can try to communicate.’

Great. Now she left him with the creepy as phck android. At least she had ordered him to put the gun away as she left. Well, one human less was always welcome, he thought and as soon as she left, he limped and dragged himself back into his corner.

Why hadn’t Hank recognised him? Gavin couldn’t believe he had forgotten him. Maybe it really just was his unkempt appearance, the bandages and the additional scars. He glanced at the glass, looking at his reflection instead of at the android for once. Yeah, he wouldn’t have recognised himself either. This wasn’t the wolf he once had been. This was the broken dog, weak and wounded. Fuck, at least his mind could stay with him for once.

But his eyes were so heavy, every limb burned and itched and felt numb. He sighed deep as his vision refocused to stare through the glass instead of at it. The android was still watching him. Still not moving, still not blinking or breathing or…  
Why was he so afraid of the thing? He was safe in here, wasn’t he? There was only one door in this cell. And a window, no bars. Nothing someone could grab through and pull him against stinging silver and do whatever they wanted with him. Whimpering he closed his eyes and curled further into himself. He forgot so much, why not forget the whole world for now. He didn’t know why he was still alive - he should be dead. He felt dead. Just so tired, so unbelievingly tired.  
It didn’t take long until he fell asleep on the grey tiled floor, so immaculately clean it felt wrong for him to lay on it.

~

‘It is asleep now’, RK900 reported as he walked back to Tina from the holding cells.  
‘Oh. Hadn’t expected that. I thought it would be more suspicious of this new environment.’  
The android shook his head. ‘It had been patched up, but it still isn’t stable. There is an equal chance of it dying and surviving still. Healing just takes too much energy from its body. I don’t think it has a say in whether it falls asleep or not.’ He eased his frown, not wanting the woman to see his repressed anger about being on guard duty for a wolf. ‘Regarding the “new environment”, I think it recognised the Lieutenant.’  
‘What?’ Tina grinned at him. ‘From that reaction? It was probably only overwhelmed by so many humans around it.’  
‘It wasn’t a reaction of fear. From the little time I could study it, it seems to be the kind of wolf that runs when scared. That hides. It actively coming near the Lieutenant… It wasn’t fearing him, that is for sure.’  
‘Since when are you an expert on them?’, Tina laughed, pushing back a pencil that had started rolling.  
‘Since the very beginning’, RK900 reminded her sourly. ‘And you know that.’  
‘Right… I’m sorry RK, I know. I shouldn’t have… Ah, well, then it most likely was a hostile reaction.’ She shrugged. ‘It’s trained to fight everything it sees, after all.’  
‘I tend to agree. But there is not enough evidence to know for sure. It didn’t try to attack us.’  
‘I don’t want to be disrespectful, but maybe that’s because of you?’ Tina avoided eye-contact with the android. ‘You know… With what you were supposed to do pre-revolution… Sorry. Or maybe it’s because they used androids to handle them? Who knows.’  
‘Everything you said is possible. We need more data on its history.’  
‘The results of the blood-sample should be coming back later this week. Then we will hopefully have a name and something to work with.’ Her words followed a long drawn out yawn.  
‘You should head home, Tina. It’s been a long day and you need your required sleep to work most effectively.’  
‘And the others always say you don’t care.’ She smirked, got up and stretched before tiptoeing to pat his shoulder. ‘Then I’ll head out and leave the night shift to you, partner! See you tomorrow!’

_Partner. _RK900 liked it when she said that. Technically, he wasn’t really her partner, android rights didn’t reach that far yet, but she didn’t care. For her he was her partner. And RK900 felt pride in his chest whenever she said it. He even gifted her a smile despite the fact that night shift meant guard duty for him again. Watching the werewolf – the immense threat to human lives. If one asked RK900 it was too much of a risk. The wolf belonged with the other confiscated beasts in the holding stations. It had made sense bringing this one to the precinct where the medical equipment was best to safe it. But with the state the wolf was in, RK900 would have rather let it die. It could still die.  
The android looked down on the sad heap of fur in the corner of the cell. Wasted use of medicine and expertise. He had been present at the raid. These mad beasts jumped at everything that moved. Even the bonded one’s could always turn on their owner, what would these so-called champions do once they were back up to health? Ticking time bombs. Now that there were androids the wolves where no longer needed. Who wanted an unstable beast protecting him, when they could have an immaculate machine? And no one would want these champions even if they agreed to a wolf partner. There simply was no use for them anymore. They were obsolete.

The wolf stirred in his sleep. Shaking legs, whole-body tremors. Twitching jaws made RK900 lay one hand on his police-issued pistol. The wolf dreamt. Did it dream of the arena? Fighting another fight? Tasting the blood, it craved by nature? Getting its revenge?  
One last full-body shook and the wolf was awake, shivering and hastily looking around. Its eyes fixed him and immediately it froze. It didn’t relax even after quite some time and held eye contact. RK900 knew that was a competition. The one to look away submitted themselves to the other. He wouldn’t back down. The wolf was afraid of him. Who knew what would change would he grant the beast the security it begged for? A fearful wolf was easy to handle. Best to let it stay panicked.

The wolf backed down again, shivering still and glancing at him in short intervals. Every single time it would meet his unforgiving eyes, shiver more and look away again. Its heartbeat never slowed down to what was considered normal, its breathing was fast and troubled. The constant panic took its toll on the already weakened body and soon the wolf had fallen asleep once more.

It hadn’t curled in on itself this time. Maybe it didn’t have the energy to do so. RK900 immediately got to work scanning the beast now that it was better to see.

The brown fur was long and unkempt. No one had cared to cut it back, wash or comb it. It had been kept alone, too. Another wolf would have helped it with the needs for hygiene. Isolated so it didn’t attack the other wolves? Isolated so it imprinted on the handler? Had it formed a bond?  
There was blood clotting in patches of fur that hadn’t been washed by the doctor when it was treated. There was sand and what looked like mud in some spots, although the claws were immaculately clean. It hadn’t been outside for a long time. Why the mud? Oh. That was easy, it wasn’t mud.

And of course, there were the scars. They littered its body, and would the wolf be able to do so, RK900 suspected it would wear them like trophies. Won battles, murdered opponents. From the evidence in the arena this particular wolf had just killed a young female werewolf. Nearly a puppy still. RK900 clenched his teeth at that. Would anyone blame him if he killed the beast here and now? It made him sick looking at it.  
A different type of scars lined its face and neck. Where the silver collar sat, the fur was long gone, reddened skin visible underneath with every breath. It looked like a bad burn on a human would. A similar scar reached all around the snout, most prominent at the bridge of his nose. A silver muzzle? Had the wolf been this viscous to need this much control? Or had it reached through the bars, trying to snap at by-walkers? RK900 sighed, trying to vent his anger. Why did humans allow these beasts to live, but had only recently granted androids their freedom? To think that they once shared the same status as one of these… monsters…  
Thankfully things were starting to change. More and more rights were granted the androids after the revolution. Androids ended the need to bond with a werewolf and as a result they were supplanted slowly. Things were changing for the better.

A low whine broke the silence of the precinct. Nightshift was always quiet with just the minimal amount of officers present. The whine repeated itself and RK900 observed the werewolf wriggling in the spot he had laid in the whole time. It ended in a quiet howl that prolonged, until RK900 couldn’t bear it anymore.  
‘Will you shut up already!’, he hollered and hit his palm against the glass, causing the wolf to flinch and fall silent immediately. ‘What are you trying to accomplish with this? Just die already!’

Tina arrived precisely at 8am, as RK900 already waited with a fresh coffee at her desk. ‘Good morning. Did you sleep well?’  
‘Ah, thank you RK, you are the best!’, she beamed, entirely fixed on the cup. ‘Yeah, I did. How about our little doggo?’  
‘I assume you mean the werewolf? You shouldn’t trivialise it, it is a very dangerous being.’  
‘Aw, come on RK, it is weakened by its wounds and safe behind glass in our cells. There is no real threat, even if you want it to be. Now come on, give me an update.’  
‘It spent the whole night dipping in and out of consciousness, stayed mostly asleep though. When it wakes up it seems disorientated as if seeing the cell for the first time. Its bodily condition is deteriorating. The wounds start to heal, but at a much slower rate than normally. Also, it is in a constantly panicked state of mind.’  
‘Did it try to establish contact?’, Tina asked, brows furrowed.  
‘No. We had a few stare-downs, that’s all.’  
‘Did it eat?’  
‘I haven’t gotten it something.’

‘Ughh, RK, we want it to survive, you know that, right?’  
‘My last mission update told me to just make sure it survives the shift back to its human form for questioning.’  
Tina took a deep breath. ‘I know. That’s the minimum requirement for us. But it wouldn’t hurt to do more, would it? You’ve seen this arena. You’ve seen the condition they were in. Fuck, you’ve seen this werewolf bleeding out in the sand. Don’t you think it deserves something nice?’  
‘Everything exceeding the minimal care would strengthen it, making the process of interrogation more dangerous.’  
‘Or easier! RK, try to be less pessimistic, please. Maybe it would be thankful for being saved and cared for?’  
‘It is your case. If you think it will be helpful strengthening a potential deadly beast, I will do it. But I have to remind you, you are taking a risk.’  
Tina puffed out a laugh. ‘Thanks for the reminder, but we are doing it my way this time, okay? Besides they are just as intelligent as we are, I don’t think terms like beast or monster are appropriate.’  
‘I’ll call it what fits best.’  
‘Jesus, it wouldn’t hurt you to relax a little.’

~

As Gavin woke up, he was alone. He didn’t believe it at first. The android had to be here somewhere, promising unforeseen terrors with those glaciers for eyes that never blinked and never averted their gaze. The perfect hunter. Gavin knew the window was so that the others outside were save from him, but he felt it was more of a barrier to keep the android away from him. To keep himself safe from it.

His mind was clearer now. Still his brain hid too much from him, especially the last fight in the arena. Maybe it wanted to protect him from his memories. But he finally knew why his new environment appeared to be so familiar to him. He had been here before. He had worked here. This was the precinct of the DPD, where Hank worked and where… He had worked here protecting Mrs. Anderson on the job. He had been a police werewolf a long time before already, but with her he was able to stay. Able to leave the precinct and have a home. A family was too much to be said as he had been a side figure in the household, but as she had married Hank and they had a kid, he had become a protector of them all and he had been… he had been happy while it lasted. Yes, he knew this place. He had just always been on the other side of the glass. What had left him thinking: Why was he here? What had happened between the last fight and him waking up in this cell? The answer laid somewhere in his memories, he knew it, he just couldn’t access them as they backed further away the more he prodded at them. There had been that white wolf whining next to him. The brief contact, the-

‘…to relax a little.’  
He tried to merge further with the walls of his corner as the human arrived accompanied by that terrifying machine. Again, it stayed in the background, as Tina crouched down in front of the glass. He tried to remember whether she had been around as he had still worked here. If she had been he hadn’t interacted with her too much.  
‘Good morning!’, she chimed as if meeting a neighbour at the super market. ‘How do you feel? Better?’  
Gavin wouldn't have answered, even if she understood it. A depreciative glare was all he managed.  
‘Are you hungry? I bet you are. My partner will bring you something.’  
On cue the android left. Who thought to partner these two up? The human seemed friendly and warm, Gavin was quite sure this wasn’t just show. Meanwhile the android was downright terrifying, with these daggers for eyes and aggressively stiff body language. Tina was the inviting kind, while the android screamed stay away and beware of minefield.

She turned around to make sure they were alone, then she continued to talk. ‘I’ll have to excuse my partner. He doesn’t like your kind very much. Thinks you are too much of a risk to be kept around. But he will accommodate to it all, believe me. He isn’t that bad, if you spent some time with him. Oh, that was fast!’  
Gavin had stayed in his corner, only observing the human with his eyes until the android walked back into view. It held two bowls and looked as if someone had forced him to sacrifice his own blue blood to fill them. ‘Tina. Stay back please.’ Only then it dawned on him that the android was about to _enter _the cell. Immediately his heart began beating in his throat and opened his mouth slightly to get in more air. There was nowhere to run, he was already the farthest away he could manage, the cell was simply too small. As the door retracted into the wall and the first foot entered, Gavin was sure his heart would give in to the stress. He was on his feet, ready to defend himself should the need arise. The adrenaline flushed his mind clear and attentive and the pain from his wounds faded into the background. But the android stayed at the entrance, just putting down the bowls and left again.

Gavin kept standing where he was leaned against the wall for support, eyes locked with the android again.  
'Don't stare, man', Tina scolded it. 'You are creepy like that.'  
The android really did avert his eyes to look at the human, opened its mouth and closed it again, shaking its head. 'Fine.'

Gavin was still fixed at the two, but there was this distracting scent. Cooked meat, some warmed up frozen peas and carrot-pieces in between. Clean water next to it. Gavin practically felt his stomach clench around nothing as he realised it had been ages since he last ate. And this was… real food. Not the canned shit from pet-stores he had eaten for several years out of necessity. He ignored the pain and his audience. He would do anything to get a bite out of that bowl. Anything to wash over that lingering taste of… blood.

He stumbled at the thought. Blood. Right. The last thing he tasted was blood – the blood of the white wolf. The blood of an innocent girl. He had killed her. He had wanted her to live, to die himself. And he… he killed her. In the end the universe had finally granted him an escape, showed him a way out of his misery – and then the police had stormed the arena. He remembered the other wolf to let him go immediately, but after his head hit the ground, he couldn’t remember anything. Maybe he passed out and they brought him here.

But it didn’t change a thing. He had killed that white one. Minutes before a rescue too. He had decided then that he couldn’t live with the guilt. Every other wolf had added to it, but the white one sealed it: He wouldn’t allow himself to live after what he had done to others. He had become a murderer, a monster, a rabid beast. Everything the humans always called his kind he embodied.

Gavin wanted to eat. The bowl full of food wouldn’t last more than a minute, but he denied himself. He knew he was weak and healing took a lot of energy. It would be a slow death, but it would come to an end finally. There was nothing more to be seen by him, nothing of worth with the reminder that countless others would never see it. Because he killed them.

~

‘What happened? It looked so good! It looked as if it was about to eat!’ RK900 had trouble determining whether she was frustrated or really worried. ‘Maybe it can’t reach it? Let me go in there, I’ll push it nearer.’  
The android stretched out his arm and kept her away from the door. ‘Tina. Calm down. It’s not that it can’t move. There is something else. Look at it walking back into the corner. There was a decision made.’  
‘How can this be a decision? As malnourished as it looks it would eat the floor tiles if it could.’  
‘When is the RK800 coming back from the case?’, The android asked absent-minded.  
‘Connor? In a few hours, why?’  
‘I’ve seen this before, ask him if he can come earlier.’

RK900 stayed at the cells as Tina went to make a few phone-calls. The wolf seemed different now. It stared at one spot on the wall, didn’t move and didn’t look at him. It didn’t react at movement, even as he ventured in front of the door – nothing. It seemed like an entirely different being.

‘What the-‘ The RK800 looked through the glass into the cell. ‘Why haven’t you washed him yet?’  
‘It didn’t let us’, the RK900 told him drily as he opened the door, well knowing they simply hadn’t deemed it necessary. He entered the cell before the doctor to take control of the werewolf, pinning it down for the other android to work on. He had expected the wolf to struggle, to try and evade him. But it just flinched at the touch, otherwise did nothing.  
‘Hmm-hmm, I’m gonna call bullshit on that, _brother._ He let’s you touch him, I think you would be able to throw a bucket of water his direction!’  
‘Him- **It** – being this apathic had us calling you. It didn’t eat, although it was about to, and it just gave up like this.’  
Connor absentmindedly loosened up a few knots in the wolf’s pelt. ‘You are sure about that?’  
‘Connor, I’ve been programmed for all these different cases. I’ve seen this behaviour before.’  
The other android nodded. ‘Okay, then I trust you in your evaluation. It’s just… he wouldn’t survive a shift. The wounds are looking good but heal too slow. The body can’t heal when the mind has decided it doesn’t want to.’  
‘What do you mean it wouldn’t survive a shift?’ RK900 couldn’t keep his anger at bay. ‘It has to!’  
‘We don’t know how long he stayed in this form. And as malnourished as he is, it would take too much energy. You would most likely get a human body, but the body only! Forcing him to shift would mean certain death. I know I’m not an official doctor for them anymore, but I’m not risking such a dangerous procedure.’  
‘Connor…’  
‘No! Either you find another doc who has no qualms doing it, or you get him to eat.’  
‘And how the hell should I do that?’  
‘Come on. You are the soldier. You were supposed to be a handler for the killing pens.’  
‘They are holding stations, Connor. And I’m none of that.’  
‘I know the politically correct term. It doesn’t change what they do there. And most times you sound exactly like them. Anyways, what I wanted to say was that you have the strength to force him to eat!’

Connor worked silently on the wounds, after RK900 was determined to keep his mouth shut. He had felt his grip on the wolf hardening and it took another full-body tremble of it for him to lessen the pressure. Connor stood up first, walking out of the cell for RK900 to release the wolf. He let go of it, but except for a relaxation of muscles it didn’t react. He went for the exit to meet with the RK800 again.  
‘You look… worried’, RK900 tried to quietly reconcile after their heated discussion.  
‘I am. Are you not?’  
‘I want it to explain what happened in the arena. How guilty are the humans, how guilty are the werewolves? For that it needs to be alive. But other than that, I don’t care.’  
Connor sighed and took his eyes from the unmoving body in the cell up to RK900’s eyes. He was the only one who could look at them for an eternity. RK900 in turn had problems looking into his. Too much bare emotion, too much judgement towards a deviant remaining machine.  
‘I’m not telling you what to do, brother, I gave up on that long ago. But they are not mindless beasts. They are intelligent. Imagine this here would be a human. What do you think has he seen to give up like this? What has been done to him to become like this? I’m not telling you to care about him. Just… try to see beyond what your programming tells you about them. I met a few werewolves in my life. Enough to tell you they are not animals. They are more similar to humans than we are. Yet we have gained freedom and they are killed. Just… try to empathize, okay? And try to be gentle.’  
‘Connor, these hands were not meant to be gentle. I will force it to eat and then you’ll let it shift. Then this is over.’  
Another heavy sigh. ‘RK900, sometimes I think you are the wrong person for the job.’  
‘Then go up to Fowler and sing it to him. Thank you for your services. Now get back to what you were doing!’

~

The pressure at his throat and legs lingered on his skin like shadows. It wasn’t any different from the cell he had been in before. The glass was pretence, just like the silver bars. They had full control over him. He had listened to what the two androids were speaking about. He had wished for the scary one to win, to force him to shift. That would have been faster. But instead of that, the android came back a few hours later, the bowl in hand, and entered the cell. Again, he didn’t move. He didn’t care. Let them handle him how they pleased. He just wanted to die and that was just a matter of time. The smell of food waved over him and again he couldn’t suppress sniffing for it and salivating. Food would be heaven now. But it would only postpone his death. Elongating his suffering. Giving the world more chances at hurting him.

The android crouched down, pushing the bowl over to him. ‘Eat.’  
Gavin didn’t react.  
‘I said, eat, wolf!’  
Gavin let out a sighed breath. How much patience did androids have? Would he give up eventually?  
‘I know you are trying to kill yourself. If you eat, I promise to kill you myself after I got your testimony. Deal?’  
Yeah, as if. They wouldn’t let him. Once he was back to health, they would force him to live. No, he wouldn’t eat.  
Gavin had expected more words, but the android surged forwards, grabbing at the silver chain and hoicked him up before pressing his snout into the bowl with enough pressure to hurt. ‘I said eat!’  
But Gavin kept his mouth shut stubbornly and a little vigour was coming back to his eyes, as he glared at the android provokingly.

‘Fine.’ The android let go of the chain and Gavin shook his head, before returning to his fixed position. ‘Then we are doing this the hard way.’  
Suddenly there were legs straddling his back and hands at his head, pressing into his flews until he reflexively opened his mouth to ease the pain. After that there was no going back: Biting down only met metal chassis that screeched under his teeth. The android picked up some of the meat and laid it on the back of his tongue, immediately retracting his hand and keeping his mouth shut. Gavin struggled against the fierce grip but was too weak to do anything. ‘Swallow.’ Gavin disobeyed again, trying to buck or roll the android off. But his legs simply got too strong, restricting his breathing. Without another warning the RK900 pushed at a certain spot of his throat and Gavin didn’t even recognised how he swallowed the meat. Phck, even he himself didn’t know that was possible.

Furious he growled in his restrained position and the android let out a grim laugh. ‘Now are you going to eat, or do we have to do it the hard way?’ Oh, no, Gavin wouldn’t make it easy for his opponent. This was just another fight.

‘Well, that was a wrestling match I haven’t seen before!’ Gavin hadn’t known how long he had struggled, and he didn’t know they had an audience. But finally, the android let go of him. Gavin was shaking from the exhaustion, barely keeping himself conscious. But he wasn’t about to back down defeated as he was. He lunged at the unsuspecting android that was on his way out. Of course, his mechanical reflexes were too fast. Gavin bit down on metal again, on the same reinforced arm. He tried to meet his eyes and let the tin-can know what he thought of all of this. He was met by icy grey and the little emotion they showed was just too intense. Gavin had never been submissive to anyone willingly. But that hatred filled stare, this carelessness, made him let go immediately and he backed off with an involuntary whimper. How on earth could eyes be this deadly? How could any human trust this machines that induced fear in the most vicious of beasts this easily?

He watched Tina grin widely at the android once outside, even embrace the killing-machine, as both went out of his vision. He would have wondered about the behaviour normally but was too sleepy now. Especially with his filled stomach. Shit. Of course, the universe wouldn’t let him die. It would force him to live, to be hurt again and again and again until his body would consist of nothing but scars. With that thought, sleep overcame him.


	4. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> RK900 tries a different approach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's for the actively trying to commit suicide tag, so you have been warned!  
But don't worry, Nines will stop him ;0)

The procedure repeated itself the following days. Four times a day the android barged into his cell with food, four times a day Gavin exhausted himself in a fight he could only loose, every night he went to sleep feeling as filled as he once had, back at the Andersons. He didn’t just loose the fights, he lost the whole battle. And he was even thinking about simply obeying and eating voluntarily when the android came. He would end up swallowing the food one way or the other and doing it himself he would spare himself the humiliation. So, after two days, when the RK900 came into his cell, routinely heading for him to weight him down with his body, Gavin used his newly gathered strength to swiftly move out of the android’s way. Not expecting that behaviour from the previously apathic wolf, the RK900 took defensive position. ‘What? You are not forcing me to chase you through this cell, do you?’

There was a threat somewhere hidden inside this sentence, but Gavin stood his stance. Sighing the android sat down the bowl, maybe thinking he really would have to catch him to force the food down. But as the android came near, hand outstretched, Gavin used his experience in the arena to evade him again, standing next to the bowl and taking a few bites, looking at the android provokingly. The RK900 in turn straightened his back again and leaned against a cell wall, as if relieved he wouldn’t have to force him anymore. ‘Finally!’, the android sighed. ‘You are a real pain in the ass, you know that? Finally found some courage to stay alive, huh?’

Gavin just stared at these unforgiving eyes, that now at least didn’t scream to kill. Yeah, let him think that. There were other ways to end this and he would try to find them. But it was easier when there was no one suspecting it. He waited, but the android wouldn’t move. He wouldn’t watch him, would he? Ah, well, he would leave once he was finished for sure.  
He tried to be quick, gorging down the meat, still so delicious after all these years of canned dogfood. Every few bites, he glanced at the android that had crouched down against the wall. Watching him. Always watching him with these glaciers for eyes. Who had designed them to look like this? The thing had to have problems even with human interaction looking like this. What had the doctor said? A soldier? A handler for the killing pens? Maybe the thing wasn’t even built for human interaction.

Gavin silenced his worthless thoughts. The android was an asshole and considering their opposing sides, Gavin should search for weaknesses, not worthless personal information.

When the bowl was empty, the android walked up to him, took it and left. In his time alone, Gavin thought about what he could do. The cell was made having in mind someone would try to kill themselves. No sharp edges, no hooks to strangle someone. Gavin would have to do it the hard way. He knew where to bite so an opponent would lose enough blood. The easiest way would be the throat, but he couldn’t reach that. His legs would have to suffice. He took a deep breath and bit down on his bandaged wounds. The pain made him flinch back at first, but he was determined. He opened up old and new ones and soon, blood was leaking again. God, why did it hurt so much? Why couldn’t he just close his eyes and never open them again?

~

‘What the-‘ RK900 had left the wolf alone for maybe an hour. Just to came back to it chewing on his own limbs. ‘Tina! Call Connor!’  
He was faster inside the cell than he could think about it, straddling the beast and keeping its mouth shut, just like he had before to make it eat. It had just started to eat normally, why did it have to try it this way? ‘Why are you making it this hard for me? I just want the fucking testimony from you, then I don’t have to pretend I care anymore. Just hold on until then!’  
But Gavin was determined. If he didn’t manage to kill himself now, there wouldn’t be another chance. He couldn’t stop eating as proved. And after this, he wouldn’t be able to harm himself anymore. He struggled in the android’s grip, even more viscous than before, now having the strength to do so. All he managed was that one hand slipped and he bit down on it. The chemical taste of thirium flooded his senses, the already evaporating liquid rising up his nostrils. It was enough to let the hand go, trying to shake out of the grip that now got even stronger and angrier.

Connor and Tina came running to the cell, RK900 now finally regaining control. ‘It started harming himself just now. You have to patch it up again.’  
Connor rushed into the cell, immediately getting to work and tending to the just sealed wounds.  
‘I know you’ll hate me for this, but can I have your tie?’, RK900 asked and Connor halted to look at him curiously. ‘I’ll have to keep it from doing this when I’m gone. You’ll get it back, I just don’t know in what condition it will be.’

Connor finished the bandage he was working on but loosened his tie afterwards to hand it over to his brother, who wrapped it a few times around the wolf’s snout before fastening it.  
‘Your hand…’  
‘It’s nothing, Connor.’  
‘It looks like he pierced an armoured plate. You should get it fixed.’  
‘I will fix the thirium tubes.’  
‘_Brother_.’  
‘Don’t brother me! I won’t go back to Cyberlife for a cosmetic issue.’  
‘I can talk to Markus, if you want. He’ll be glad to-‘  
‘_Connor!_’ He threw one of his deathly glares at the only one who wasn’t affected by it. ‘Concentrate on fixing the damn werewolf. I’ll handle myself.’

It took them a few hours, the wolf still thrashing and trying to rub off the tie around his jaws to no avail. But then all the new wounds had been tended to. The two androids left the cell and RK900 let out a frustrated sigh. ‘I thought to have that bullshit pushed out of it. Why can’t it understand I just need it to talk to me about the arenas? Then I won’t keep it from its self-destructing tendencies.’  
‘Then tell me, why should it care?’, Connor commented, equally frustrated by his brother. ‘This werewolf wants to kill himself. And it seems determined enough to hurt himself. Do you really think it cares about some random person and their plans?’  
‘If they are as intelligent as you always try to convince me of, it should know this could end the suffering of them in the arenas. And its own, too.’  
‘And you think reason weights more than trauma? You want my advice? Show him, there is something more. Show him there is good left in this world. Become special to him. I mean, it’s just a suspicion of me, but I don’t think he has experienced much nice in his life. It should be very easy to get through to him.’  
‘And how should I “be nice” to it? I give it food, for fuck’s sake.’

‘Don’t treat him like a fucking animal! That would be a good start. And wash him, goddamnit. He lives with the constant smell of his past life and now his own blood, too. You get along with Tina just fine, you can figure it out yourself!’

RK900 had strolled through the precinct the whole day, leaving Tina alone at their desks. _Be nice._ How the hell should he be nice to a monster? And why? The wolf would try to kill itself as soon as left alone, even if it made it through the shift. Why spend time on someone who decided to let it run out? Why bother patching it up and being nice when it was ultimately worthless? But Connor was better at that stuff. He had brought Hank back from his alcohol-induced low somehow. His advice was to be trusted.

‘Warm or cold water?’ He appeared at his brother’s desk before they were about to leave.  
‘Hmm?’  
‘Washing the beast. Should it be warm?’  
‘I think it would be better?’  
‘Sumo likes it warm’, Hank barged in. ‘I mean, he is a dog, not a wolf. But that’s as far as my expertise goes.’  
‘Thank you, Lieutenant, that will be helpful.’  
They were about to start walking, as Connor stopped to take a closer look. ‘What are you doing with the muzzle?’  
‘It will protect him, me and your tie. I didn’t deem it necessary, before but it proved me wrong.’  
‘For how long do you think that’s required?’  
‘That depends on the wolf.’  
‘Okay, but keep it loose. We don’t know what kind of experience he made with them. Remember the scar on the nose?’  
‘Have a safe drive home’, RK900 replied instead of answering and went back to the holding cells.

The wolf had retreated back to its corner, as apathic as before. It didn’t even look at him and the android used that to hide the muzzle behind his back as he ventured in with a full bowl. At the sound of the door it lifted its head and growled deeply. But it wasn’t about to lunge at him again, so he just put down the bowl and opened the knot of Connor’s tie. The wolf opened and closed its mouth a few times, showing rows of sharp, long teeth in the process. Then looked at the android unimpressed. _Be gentle. _RK900 clenched his jaw at his brother’s words, but forced to relax his body. He pushed the bowl nearer towards the wolf, so that it wouldn’t have to change position.  
‘Eat’, he ordered harshly and stopped himself to add a quiet ‘please’.

The wolf crooked his head, eyeing him disbelievingly. ‘What?’, RK900 snapped back. ‘You dumb piece of shit need the energy after what you just did!’  
At that the wolf nodded and faced the bowl, carefully scooping up its contents.  
‘Don’t do that again, you understand?’  
The wolf showed no sign he had heard his words, simply licked the bowl clean and laid back down. RK900 moved forwards, pretending to pick up the bowl, when in reality he reached further, grabbing the silver chain and push the muzzle over its nose.  
Immediately the wolf fought back as violently as never before. It was actually a challenge for once fastening the strap behind its head. But finally, he managed to close the buckle and quickly put space between himself and the wolf should it lash out. But instead of viscously trying to harm him again, it just slumped down into its fixed position.

RK900 let his defensive stance fall and headed for the door. _Be nice. _‘It’s for your own good, okay? I will keep you alive until I got you to shift and if it’s the last thing I’ll do!’

The android went back to his desk, now that it was safe leaving the wolf alone again and tried to at least get some work done. Making sure their witness was alive and healing just took too much time to still be a helpful partner to Tina who was left with their whole workload. At least she knew a good night’s sleep was more important than having all your emails answered the day they came in. He wouldn’t have to care for another person wrecking themselves.

It was around two in the morning, that a low whine drifted through the precinct. Barely audible in the bullpen, but RK900’s sensors picked it up. He sighed and ignored it, getting back to work. Another whimper followed and it sounded suppressed, involuntarily. The only time the wolf had made these sounds before had been after he had activated his intimidation protocols, that were designed to strike somewhere deep, some instinctive fear inside of them. _Be gentle. Be nice. _He stood up from his desk to investigate before anyone else would. The wolf had curled up on itself once again and RK900 wondered whether it was asleep again. But a quick scan told him it was awake. Still he forced his voice to be quiet: ‘What’s wrong, wolf? People are trying to work outside!’  
The wolf didn’t react except for a shiver brushing up the pelt at his spine. But instead of plush fur, plates of dirt and dried blood were lifted from its back. The android sighed in defeat. He hadn’t planned to help the wolf after that tantrum it had thrown today, but his brother would kill him would the beast still not be cleaned by the next examination.

He went to gather his supplies, before entering the cell again. The wolf looked up to him and the bucket next to him sceptically. RK900 had no patience for its fighting nature and decided to directly handle it his way. He grabbed the wolf by the collar and pulled it closer, starting with a brush to comb out the bigger chunks of dirt. Initially the beast had resisted, but as soon as it realised what he was doing it surprisingly went lax. RK900 had expected everything except that the wolf would allow him to clean it. Wouldn’t this be humiliating for it? He knew preening was normally reserved for other wolves and maybe as an exception a bonded human. He was none of that and still he was allowed to do it. It had to be really uncomfortable then.

He let go of the silver chain to have both hands at his service and as the beast didn’t try anything he dove into his work, starting at the shoulders and making his way towards the rear. Soon he had sunken down so deep, he stopped thinking. There was just dirt that had to be brushed away to unveil a lighter shade of brown. Like leftover fallen leaves in winter or fresh earth. It was a… relaxing task. He nearly forgot that under his fingers laid a living being. The wolf turned over to help him reach a spot at his ribcage and grumbled, seemingly pleased. RK900 momentarily stopped to ground himself back in reality and got caught by the wolf, that suddenly tensed and eyed him over the rim of the muzzle in a sudden realisation of vulnerability.  
The android quickly returned to the dirty spots and hoped not to have startled the wolf too much. The sensation of relaxing muscles under his hands finally let him calm down again, too.

As he was finished, he sat the brush aside and pulled over the bucket. The android started drenching the wolf’s fur in water, occasionally ruffing it up to get deeper dirt and sand out. Especially these scratches the beast seemed to enjoy and as something hit his knee, the android realised it was slowly wagging its tail. Most likely a subconscious action. RK900 smiled at that and continued. Most likely a subconscious action with him, too.

In the end, RK900 took the remaining water to wash away the residues of dirt on the floor, quickly reaching for a towel to rub the wolf dry, before laying it on the floor to soak in the excess water there. Taking a new brush, he started conquering the now chaotic fur again. The beast had even closed its eyes throughout it, letting out the occasional content grumble when he hit a special spot.

As his scans deemed his work finished, he put away the utensils and stood up abruptly, throwing the wolf off-balance that had leaned against his legs. With a surprised yelp the beast righted itself again and looked up to him, dazed. As he moved towards the door, there was another short whimper, strangled to end as quickly as it came, as if embarrassed.

~

Gavin quickly stared at the floor. What the hell had he thought? The android simply did its job here. It had repeatedly told him he just cared for the testimony. Afterwards he would be discarded again and who knew were the universe would lead him. But this feeling, this feeling of _being cared for…_ It had been just too good to be true. Well, it hadn’t been. Gavin had simply forgotten it all was fake.

‘What?’ there it was again. This cold voice, these even colder eyes that could change in an instant from indifference to murder. This face that never showed emotion, always stared at him, an impersonal scan at its best. Gavin got up to shake himself free of water that wasn’t there anymore and retreated into his corner, back to the glass window. His ears flicked as the bucket was sat down and his body tensed as there were footsteps. He expected to be yanked up by the silver chain again, to feel the stinging metal on his skin burning hot with rage. But the pain never came. Instead, there was a thud next to him. Curious, Gavin uncurled a bit too see the android sitting next to him, too close for comfort and at the same time promising just that.

‘You want me to continue, huh? Didn’t expected that from you, wolf. But before you disturb every officer out there with your whining again…’  
He reached over to pet him, carefully, as if the android expected him to bite despite being unable to. Gavin didn’t want to, but he leaned into the touch. It simply had been too long since he had this kind of contact. It had been years. Years without a contact that didn’t mean harm, years without something good. This… This was some dream, surely. It had to be. But the android had come back. For once something hadn’t been taken away from him but gifted instead. Gavin knew what he was about to do was foolish. Humiliating beyond reason, against everything he stood for and risky. But, well, more than anything else he wanted to have this. Make this a memory that could warm him in the hell that would come without doubt.

He got up, slowly not to be threatening in any way. The android retracted his hand cautiously. Gavin made eye contact, but immediately looked back down as he met the grey. His tail between his legs, he trotted over and laid back down near the android, head in his lap. He clenched his eyes shut, awaiting the yank of the chain or a scolding punch to the snout, but instead the hand returned. It slowly brushed over his head, barely really touching the skin. He let out a long sigh and made himself comfortable, being allowed to stay. The strokes repeated themselves, slowly gaining more weight and confidence, covering more ground, too. Gavin grumbled again, pressing against the hand that for once wouldn’t hurt him, at least not the way all the others had before.

He had dozed off a few times already, slipping in and out of sleep, guard still up. The next time he regained consciousness completely again was when the hands stopped and fiddled with the strap on the back of his head. Carefully, the android let the muzzle glide off and he sat it aside. ‘Don’t make me regret this, wolf.’  
Gavin simply pushed his snout deeper in the fabric of the android’s trousers and grunted pleased, as the android rubbed at the spots the rim had sat on. He was carefully with the scar from the silver on the bridge of his nose and returned to caressing his head again afterwards. Gavin was breathing slow and deep now. May this moment last forever, he thought to himself, before closing his eyes again and for this time, really drifted off to sleep.


	5. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin doubts his life choices.  
RK900 doubts his programming.
> 
> Edit: Now with amazing artwork from @adorkable_anna5 from twitter! Please go check out her stuff!

~

‘RK? You here?’  
RK900 simply raised his finger to his mouth as Tina came into view. She took in the scene, mouth gaping at him and he chuckled, curling a strand of hair around his finger. The wolf had shifted in its sleep resulting in its complete upper body laying in his lap now, head pressed firmly against his stomach. RK900 had one hand resting on its heaving ribcage and the other trapped under the wolf’s snout.  
‘What- How?’, Tina whispered, a wide grin on her face.  
RK900 carefully shrugged, brushing over ribs covered only by skin and fur. _Washed it, _he displayed on his hand not to wake up the wolf. _Afterwards it didn’t let me go.  
_‘Huh? Did it bond?’  
_That’s impossible with androids.  
_‘We don’t know that for sure.’  
_It has not bonded with me. There would be biological signs.  
_‘Weird. Well, the blood results are in. This wolf in your lap had been a police-werewolf once.’  
‘What?’  
‘Yep. In this very precinct even. Registered and most likely bonded to a Lieutenant Anderson, now retired. Found alone on the streets without papers or a valid order from his human. Send to a holding station for execution due to violation of contract. But never arrived there.’  
‘Wait. In this precinct? To _Anderson?’ _RK900 had tried to keep his voice quiet, but the wolf stirred in its sleep. ‘Send to be executed?’  
Tina nodded. ‘Yeah, according to the laws.’  
‘I know that, that’s not what I’m riled up by!’ Cruel words again. He just couldn’t help it. ‘Why did it never arrive?’  
‘Manipulated data. It was marked as arrived and in holding. But it was never killed.’  
‘And they didn’t realise that mistake?’  
‘RK, you know how many wolves there are at a holding station. Most likely thought it died in the pens. They don’t care enough to think more about it.’  
‘They are my model, Tina. They should care about a job well done.’ He sighed, looking down on the wolf, still sleeping peacefully in his lap. ‘Do we have a name?’  
‘Gavin Reed.’

‘We need to talk to the Lieutenant about this. He is divorced, right? And even if the former owner isn’t in any way related to him, he has worked with them.’  
‘Yeah, I will talk to him.’  
‘Wait! I’ll come with you.’  
‘Nah, stay, you are occupied, I see’, Tina smirked at him.  
RK900 send her a death glare and leaned forwards, fetching the towel that had dried overnight. Carefully, he laid it in the spot where the wolf normally laid and started heaving it out of his lap onto the cloth. The wolf grumbled in its sleep but didn’t wake up, so the android used the opportunity to push the muzzle over its snout again. Quickly, RK900 brushed the excess hairs from his trousers and hurried out of the cell.

‘You are starting to like him’, Tina laughed as they made their way back into the bullpen.  
‘Why would you think that? Connor told me to wash it. And as he is the doctor, I followed his advice. I stayed there, because it would have annoyed the whole precinct with its whining.’  
‘Yeah, and that’s why you smiled and petted him? I’ve never seen you smiling with this honesty or being this relaxed.’  
‘Officer Chen, caring for this werewolf is my job. I’m doing this solely for the case. I have no feelings for a wild, dangerous beast whatsoever, have I made myself clear?’  
‘Jesus, RK, you need to calm down. Would it hurt to confess cuddling with an oversized puppy can even warm your heart of stone?’ She playfully punched his side, before continuing towards Hank and Connor’s desk. RK900 bit back his words that, no, he hadn’t _cuddled _and even calling the wolf a puppy as a joke was trivialising the matter. As if his hand wasn’t still punched through and bent by the beast’s jaws. They were standing in front of Hank and his gossiping brother after all, they didn’t need to know how he had spent the night shift.

‘Tina, RK. How can we help you?’, Connor greeted them.  
‘We have the name of the captured werewolf from the raid. Gavin Reed.’ RK900 observed Hanks face for any sign of recognition. But if the Lieutenant knew the beast, he hid it well as the android couldn’t find any.  
‘It had been a police werewolf once, in this precinct even. It was registered to a Lieutenant Anderson at that time.’  
Hank seemed particularly disinterested. ‘Well, it’s not my dog.’  
‘We figured that much’, RK900 gave back, a bit harsher than needed maybe. ‘But you must have known the person, being one of the officers with the most years of service.’  
‘I never had any interest in the werewolf members of the force’, he mumbled.  
‘I meant the human, Lieutenant. I thought it unnecessary to prod into personal matter here, but I think you knew that human _very_ well.’  
‘Yeah, she was my wife, for fuck’s sake, you happy now? She had a werewolf bonded to her. She left me and I never saw her or the damn dog again. You finished here?’  
There was definitely more behind that defensive stance and RK900 was about to pry more, but Tina carefully pulled at his sleeve.  
‘Hank, I’m sorry, I know thinking back there is hard. But we try to find out how the wolf ended up in this arena.’

‘Is he getting better?’, Connor asked and successfully redirect their attention away from Hank.  
‘It has no choice now. It can’t harm itself anymore and it eats’, RK900 answered sourly.  
‘Then you can wait until he shifts and ask him yourself. If he is uncooperative, we are happy to help, okay?’  
‘Fine’, RK900 grumbled through pressed teeth, turned on his heels and went right to the holding cells. Tina sighed, excused them both and hurried after the android. Sometimes she asked herself whether she deserved the title handler. Well, she didn’t see herself as one in the first place.

‘They are hiding the truth! I can’t believe it; he calls himself my brother after all!’ He was walking up and down the holding cells as Tina caught up to him. ‘What’s so difficult telling us about it?’  
‘Loss is no easy thing, RK. We need to be respectful.’  
‘Oh, really? Hank is slowing down an active investigation! I don’t care if his fucking wife left him. He could have told us!’  
Before Tina could answer, there was a bark coming out of the wolf’s cell. The android immediately turned to look at it. ‘What?’ Another bark. Another frustrated sigh.

‘Maybe Connor is right’, Tina said, as she took the few steps to stand next to the android. ‘We have to be patient and wait for the shift. I’ll try to find out as much as I can about her. Try not to get riled up that much, okay RK?’  
‘I’ll try.’

~

It was easy to see the android was angry about something. Not the best of situations to be a “viscous beast” in its eyes. Had they discovered he had been Mrs. Anderson’s werewolf partner? If they had, what else did they knew? Did they know of Cole? How much did they know of him?  
It had been wrong to interrupt their argument just then, but he knew how hard losing his son and his wife had been for the man. He could understand if Hank didn’t want to speak about it and hearing the android speak about it as if his pain was irrelevant… He shook his head. He didn’t even know whether these were his own feelings or something leftover from their severed bond.

The android came back with a bowl of food again. Gavin instinctively sniffed, trying to find out whether he had calmed down, only then recalling they had no scent. He was sitting, waiting for the RK900 to take the muzzle from him. There was a pat on the head, he didn’t overlook, and the strap was loosened.

~

Immediately the wolf dove for the food, while the android inspected the bandages and wounds underneath. They looked good and healed surprisingly fast now. Maybe this was the regeneration of werewolves that everyone was speaking about when emphasizing their dangers. ‘Good to see, you finally decided to heal’, he muttered, resting his hand in the thick pelt of its shoulders. He still was confused as of why it let him touch it so freely, as he felt the whole body press against his palm.  
‘Your blood samples came in today. We learned a bit about you today. But it’s important you heal quickly. We need you to talk to us… Gavin.’  
He felt the shiver under his synthetic skin upon the name. He sighed.

‘We learned, you were partnered with a Lieutenant Anderson. I suppose that’s our Lieutenant’s former wife?’  
The wolf took its head out of the bowl to nod once, then got back to eating. ‘Good, at least then, he hasn’t lied to me.’ _Who says the wolf tells the truth? _RK900 simply ignored that thought and ruffled up its coat just to pet it down again. ‘Also found out you were on execution row. I guess you’ll get the death you crave in the end. That shouldn’t be comforting, but I guess it is for you.’  
There was no reaction to that from the wolf. ‘I think I’ll get Connor later in the day to examine you. I must confess, I am getting more and more impatient. Now that I got a few pieces of information I want everything.’  
The wolf was licking clean the bowl already, slumping down and licking its lips. ‘Okay, I’ll message Connor, then. I’m just gone to stack away the cleaning supplies, okay? Don’t even think about harming yourself!’

~

The second android soon arrived, being led in by the RK900. Gavin eyed him sceptically but stayed laying down. ‘Oh! You washed him!’ It sounded delighted. After getting comfortable with the other’s emotionless voice it nearly made him sick.  
‘Yeah. I did what you said.’ _And cuddled with it while he was at it, _Gavin thought amused. Of course, the big bad android wouldn’t admit that.  
‘He looks really good. Wouldn’t recognise the wolf from a few days ago. He would need a trim though.’  
Gavin would have rolled his eyes at that, but instead fixed the floor.  
‘I don’t think that would be worth the effort.’  
‘Why?’  
‘It’s on death row.’  
‘Oh.’ The android started examining every wound. ‘Unjustified, if you ask me.’  
‘We don’t know why yet, Connor.’  
‘Yeah, but I do. I can’t possibly tell you, brother, I would betray Hank’s trust in me by doing so. But I can tell you, the wolf doesn’t deserve the sentence. He is not at fault.’  
Gavin growled an angry warning at that.  
‘It seems to disagree’, the RK900 translated, while the android named Connor continued working away on him. But Gavin concentrated on the other’s hands at his legs and neck, that drew incredible slow soothing circles hidden in repositioning them. Gavin wondered if that proved his earlier statement lies or if this all was just an immaculate show to get him to shift. Well, he enjoyed it nonetheless. It was rare enough that the universe threw affection his direction.

‘Really, I’m impressed. You did good, brother. He is incredible malnourished still, but something you did made him pick himself up. I could force him to shift right now, but there is still risk. I would wait until tomorrow and try to let him do it himself. That’s always way healthier.’  
‘No. If he would survive it now, we’re doing it now!’  
‘RK.’ The android reached over the wolf’s body to grab the RK900 by the shoulders. ‘Please, wait until tomorrow morning. It will be safer for him and rushing it won’t be of any use.’  
‘Fine.’ Again. The impatience was clearly visible.

The doctor left the cell and the RK900 applied the muzzle once again, maybe a bit rougher than he needed to be, but Gavin wouldn’t complain. Then he left, too, without a word.

He slumped down on his towel in the corner. Why wasn’t he happy, now that the end was near? Just shift, answer some questions, then he would be shipped to the holding stations. His suffering would come to an end. Why wasn’t he happy? Why was he just feeling empty? Maybe, he thought, it was simply because he wouldn’t complain, would his current situation never change.  
It wasn’t too bad, laying here all day, getting fed and occasionally pet by a weird as phck android. But it wouldn’t stay this way, he knew that. It would get worse again. And maybe then, he would be glad having to just kill some time until the end arrived. All the guilt was still deep inside him, all these foreign names and faces he killed. Yeah, he didn’t deserve to live. If he repeated it often enough, he would believe it again.

~

‘Goodbye, Tina. I’ll see you tomorrow then.’ RK900 waited at their desks until she left the building, then he let himself fall down on his chair. He opened up his emails that had all been answered already, but he needed something to at least pretend to be busy. _I don’t think that would be worth the effort. It’s on death row. _That was him. That was the machine he had been and the machine everyone knew. He had known others described him as cruel. As cold-hearted, some even as evil. He had never wasted even one thought at that. He was what his programming dictated him. There was nothing more to it. There had never been a reason to change.

So why on earth had he deemed these words cruel now?

It were facts. Nothing but truth and facts. No emotions except for anger and cruelty. Nothing else was needed handling these beasts. Nothing else was needed to kill other androids or to kill humans. Or to intimidate criminals. That had been his function, his reason to exist. It had been so hard for him becoming a deviant and in fear of having no use at all he had held on to his orders and his protocols. But the last night, he had felt… peace. He had been fine that his only purpose was to pet the sleeping wolf. He had even been… happy? Content? Maybe he could leave his self-made boundaries now? Maybe he had found a new purpose?

Closing his eyes, he poked behind the walls. Blue ones. His own programming. It was easy to evade, he had never thought he would need countermeasures, that he would even try to escape. He simply slithered through and was met with black. With the outlining, with software chassis waiting to be filled with code, with experience and memories. With emotions and hopes, wishes. There were opportunities. There were possibilities.

But there was no safety.

There was nothing to hold onto once he left the boundaries of his own blue cage. There was risk. Risk of losing himself and of losing this safety-net he had built around himself until it held him captive. And there was no reason to take that risk. He shook his head and opened his eyes again, skimming through the open email-program. Words, letters, pixels. Sometimes he wished he wasn’t deviant. He had been fine his whole deviant live staying a machine. There would have been no harm done letting him stay one and never caring for what laid beyond the walls.

Maybe he could understand the wolf better than any other being. In the end, he too craved a kind of death. But other than the beast, he wanted to continue to exist. He didn’t exactly know why, but existing meant chance. Not a complete great unknown like his deviant mind, but something that could be calculated. He knew his life wouldn’t change drastically. He knew his past and his future would look similar. So, existing wasn’t too bad.

‘Is that, why you want to die?’ He stood in front of the holding cell and couldn’t recall how he got there. The wolf laid in the back of the cell and lifted its head at the sudden noise. ‘Because you don’t expect things to change?’ The wolf sat up and turned, tilting its head slightly. ‘Tell me. TELL ME GODDAMNIT!’ The wolf whimpered at that and laid flat on the ground. Only then RK900 had noticed he had yelled and punched at the glass, his intimidation protocols active and terrifying the wolf again.

He blinked the death stare away and closed his eyes, averting his whole face. ‘I’m sorry.’ Why was he sorry? _Be gentle. Be nice.  
_He had broken eye contact. He had signed the wolf a defeat. He-  
The beast had slowly come to the front, he could hear the overgrown claws clicking on the tiles. A barely noticeable thump and Nines pre-constructed it to sit in front of him.  
He had just submitted himself. _A fearful wolf was easy to handle. Best to let it stay panicked. _The beast had stayed calm until now, because it was afraid of him, what would happen now? _It didn’t look afraid when it laid its head in your lap. _But that didn’t persuade his programming and when he shifted to look at the wolf, his intimidation protocols were working overtime.

The first time the wolf had come to him, had voluntarily sat down in front of him, maybe reacted to his agitated mind by trying to be near, to comfort. And he just stared it down again, saw it trembling again, shaken by whatever instinct that gaze triggered. Scared down to the bone. And yet it stayed seated. It tried to withstand the stare and it almost looked as if it was… begging him to stop. As if he had any control about that. After the longest time, it backed down, crushed by the weight of its own fear. It averted its eyes, closed them hard enough to let little furrows appear in the bridge of its nose, shifting the silver-scar that would hurt forever. But it stayed at the window, stayed close when everything should tell it to run.

And that finally made him shake it off. He took a few breaths to ventilate his systems and suddenly all the data crushed in. Elevated heartbeat, scent that screamed of panic and fear, troubled breaths, fast and unsteady. He had caused this. He was at fault for this. For causing harm to a being that had lived through a lot already, regardless of it having deserved it or not. He opened the cell door and slumped down at the entrance, giving the wolf space after what he’d just done.

After some time, he closed his eyes again, head rested against the wall. He concentrated on his systems and on the constant background scan he had kept running on the wolf ever since it arrived. It had calmed down. There was still a slightly elevated heartbeat, but it didn’t race as it had before. Then there was movement. He didn’t open his eyes. It was too slow to be an attack and even if it was one, he would be able to defend himself as soon as a proximity alert warned him. But it didn’t come. Instead, there was something wet licking at his stretched-out hand, the one that had been damaged by the same wolf.

‘That doesn’t help, wolf. I can’t heal.’ He opened his eyes to the beast sitting next to him, ignoring his whispered words and licking away. ‘I’ll probably rust though’, he chuckled. He _chuckled._ Why did this damn wolf have this effect on him?  
‘I’m sorry. Really. I… lost control.’  
The wolf brushed its head against his knee and carefully bit at his sleeve to tuck on it, then walk over to his corner, but sitting next to the towel instead of on it. Nines looked at it questioningly but stood up and walked over. The wolf punched a paw on the towel and the android sat down on it. Then the wolf laid down next to him, back rested against the length of his leg. What was that behaviour? Almost naturally Nines rested his hand on the wolfs ribcage, slowly brushing through the fur and counting every still very prominent rib, while searching his databanks.  
_A wolf might protect another by finding a secluded corner and facing in direction of danger itself. Wolves showing this behaviour need to be immediately separated from their charge else pack-dynamics will start to develop._

Nines stared at the wolf disbelievingly. The data he had been programmed with had to be faulty. There was no way a dangerous monster would protect someone who had intimidated them just moments before. Well, there wouldn’t be much more data to be added. At least not with this specimen. Just this one night. Then a shift, a testimony and it would be shipped off to the holding stations. Why wasn’t he happy, now that the end was near? After this he could finally get back to the case at hand. Maybe solve it and move on to the next. And to the next and the next and the next until his thirium pump would power down or he was shot down in a gunfight. Why wasn’t he happy to have this caring-duty over and done for? Why was he just feeling empty at the prospect of returning back to his old life?

Maybe, he thought, it was simply because he wouldn’t complain, would his current situation never change.


	6. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally, we learn something about Gavin's past.

Again, the wolf ended up in his lap overnight. Again, he had stayed, until Tina arrived at the window, smiling fondly at him and the beast.  
'So, today is the day, huh?', she asked quietly.  
'Yes. Finally, our efforts pay off.' Nines continued petting the wolf in his lap. 'I hope it cooperates.'  
'Yeah, I mean, you have your ways to make him, but I too hope that's not necessary.'  
Nines just nodded and shifted under the weight of the being on top of him. It was gentle but got the message across once the wolf had woken up. It got up quickly, maybe even embarrassed and sat down next to him again, yawning and stretching.  
'Could you go fetch Connor?', he requested, and Tina hurried off.

'I would appreciate you shifting voluntarily, wolf’, Nines spoke as he worked on the complex mechanism on the chain that had made it impossible for a wolf to open. Well, he himself had some problems opening the restraint and shift-blocker. ‘Connor can force you to, but I want to get this over with as soon as possible.' _Be gentle. _'Also, I heard the process would hurt. I think it would be in your interest to avoid that.'

The wolf let its head fall and stared at the ground what miraculously prompted Nines to ruffle the shorter hair behind its ears encouragingly before standing up and brushing off the fur from his dark trousers. He reached the door as Tina came into view with Connor in tow.

At the same time he arrived at the door, Tina came with Connor in tow. 'You said it should be ready today.'  
'He should. But well, we'll see if he wants to. You should come out, some are documented to become feral mid-transition.'  
Nines nodded, but looked towards the wolf first, that had now seated itself opposite to his usual corner and looked at him. 'I think I'll stay. I can fend it off if needed.'  
Some moments of awkward silence commenced as they all just looked at the wolf expecting the shift to start. It had laid down and closed its eyes and Connor started fidgeting with his coin out of habit.

'Is it happening already?', Tina whispered, and Connor shook his head. 'Not yet. I hope he's preparing himself and doesn't test our patience here.'  
Nines scanned the being over and over again and finally there were some signs. The wolf shivered again, then bent its spine unnaturally and tried to hook its claws into something. There was a low whine stretching out and then the cracking started: bones shrinking and snapping in and out of place, tendons slipping through flesh and realigning muscle. The skin and pelt appeared hollow as if it was just a blanket thrown over a thin skeleton. Spine and shoulder blades protruded, and the skin started to tauten itself. The whine broke into a terrifying scream, something neither human nor animal as the face started to dent in and gain more and more human features. The process had started slowly, now it moved on fast: in the blink of an eye the fur was gone, and the colossal beast had transformed into a small human form cowering on the ground on his shins and forearms. Nines wanted to sigh contently, as he realised the werewolf was shaking heavily. What was visible of its ribcage was heaving as if he had difficulties to breath and the shoulders were trembling, shook by something Nines only now realised were sobs. Strong, ugly sobs. _Be gentle. Be kind._ The words could have branded themselves into his programming by now because it almost felt like instinct approaching the crying being. He remotely noticed, how Tina pulled Connor away, speaking something about privacy. Nines was just fixed on the former wolf wetting its hands with salty tears.

He knelt next to it, unsure how to comfort now that he had made the decision to and tried what he had done before: lightly resting a hand on the others back. The sobbing stopped for a second, then suddenly he was grasped and pulled near by the monster. Nines felt his body act up, alerting him of an attack from the beast, but was too surprised to act. It allowed him enough time to realise his programming had fooled him again. This was not an attack. The only thing harmed was his Cyberlife jacket that was slowly getting soaked as the werewolf pushed its head into his shoulder sobbing furiously. The android didn’t know what to do, for once in his life seriously overwhelmed by the situation, and ended up simply holding the monster in its human form. Naked, every bone clearly visible as if fasting for months on end. Together with all the tears flowing it felt… vulnerable. It was weird to think of a werewolf as anything other than viscous and dangerous, but here he was, holding a bundle of bones and skin. It did… something to him. Something he deliberately pushed away and ignored, but it was there.

Finally, after what felt like hours, the beast in front of him stopped crying. There was silence for a few moments, before a voice quiet and hoarse from either the tears or the long time not using it whispered: ‘Is… Hank… here?’  
‘Lieutenant Anderson?’, the android asked carefully.  
‘… Yes.’ The werewolf was interrupted by a coughing fit that sounded terrible and had to hurt. Still, it continued to speak slowly afterwards: ‘I… need to talk… to him.’  
‘I’ll fetch him’, RK900 nodded suddenly feeling the urge to help. Maybe he was just too confused by the sudden emotional outburst and the reaction of the monster. Slowly, he loosened its hands from his lapels, distanced himself from the kneeling form and took it in in the process. Aside from the malnourished body, it was well build. There were still muscles, probably due to the different metabolisms of the wolf’s forms, but not a gram of fat. It had brown hair, similar to the wolf’s coat before but dull and boring in comparison. The green eyes stayed the same though, the piercing gaze and reflecting colour the distinct feature one could easily tell a werewolf from a human on. The scars that had been obvious on the wolf body here were only faint white lines on skin, but still littered everywhere. Not a centimetre of space without a scar. What was prominent on both forms were the scars from silver: the more pinkish tissue on the bridge of his nose, continuing faintly down the cheek, the ring around its throat looking like burned skin after years of contact with silver – the heavy chain that was responsible for it still innocently laying near the door.

Then he stood, the werewolf sunken in on itself again. He hurried over to the door, making his way over to Hank’s desk, passing a confused Connor and worried Tina. ‘Lieutenant Anderson. I know you are hiding something, and I actually don’t want to know for now. But you have to come with me, the werewolf wants to speak to you.’  
The older human leaned back in his chair. ‘And why should I do that, hmm? What do I care for your suspect? You should be the one asking questions not the beast, shouldn’t you?’  
Nines planted his hands on the other’s desk and fixed him with a death stare he had developed himself in the years he had spent on the force. ‘I wasn’t asking, Lieutenant.’  
‘Jesus, you really are a stubborn bastard. Fine. I’ll come and speak to yer damn dog.’

Nines was back first, the Lieutenant tailing behind.  
‘Hank!’ The werewolf inside the cell first got up to all fours, before struggling to stand up on two legs, as soon as it saw the man. With help of the walls it stumbled over to the glass. ‘Hank!’  
It pressed a hand against the glass together with its forehead.  
‘I… please, listen! I’m sorry! I am so sorry. I… should have been there. I should… I should have saved him! I’m sorry, Hank. Please. Forgive me!’  
It had spoken with eyes closed, but now it looked up, directly into Hank’s. Nines too observed the human, looking for any reaction. But there was none, not even micro-expressions. It was obvious the two knew each other, every evidence up to now screamed they had at least lived together for some time. But at the same time the Lieutenant could have spoken to a complete stranger.  
‘Hank? Please, say something. I’m asking for nothing but an answer.’  
‘I don’t know you’, the man said reluctantly and reserved, evading its eyes now. ‘I’m sorry.’  
‘Bullshit!’ It was the first word uttered with power. With some hidden strength the werewolf maybe had possessed once. ‘You know me. Gavin Reed. Bonded to your wife who left you after Cole-‘  
‘Don’t you dare speak his name!’ The man was furious now, but other than Nines as he had pounded against the glass in a similar way, the werewolf didn’t flinch or backed up.  
‘I loved him too! If you don’t believe me, think of the bond I had! I would have given anything to let him live! I should have been in this car with you. I should have changed the priorities. And it is my deepest regret I failed my duty. But don’t you worry. I’ll die soon enough, all I ask for is forgiveness!’  
And there it was. The reaction, the final proof these two persons had been close once. The pleading eyes of the werewolf and the hard one’s of the human that tried to hide the pain of memories. For a moment it seemed like he would say something, but then the expression was gone again, and Hank turned on his heels walking back to his desk without another word.

The werewolf closed its eyes again and as if suddenly realising how weak it was, its knees gave in underneath him and he clumsily sank to a seated position, burying its head in his arms. Nines, unsure of what to do, eyed it for a few moments. As it began shivering again, he entered the cell, took the towel from the corner and held it out towards the monster. It looked up and took it wordlessly, tying it around its waist to cover the necessities. ‘Right. The testimony waits.’  
It tried to stand up and Nines caught it as it was about to fall again, sensing just how cold the skin was as he held it. ‘Wait’, he said and took off his jacket, handing it over. The werewolf eyed him vary, but took it hesitantly, draping it over its shoulders.

Nines opened the door and hooked himself under the werewolf, helping it walk out of the cell and towards the interrogation rooms, shielding it from curious looks from the bullpen in the process. Tina and Connor followed behind without a comment. The android entered the adjacent room to watch, while Tina entered after Nines and closed the door behind them, waiting for the android to help the werewolf sitting down on one of the chairs. This had long become his case, not hers. Not that she complained. It was nice seeing the android finally taking action and at least showing some compassion instead of the cold analysing attitude he had displayed ever since they both had been partnered up. Still, Nines stood beside the other chair, letting her start the interrogation. She smiled at him amusedly and sat down, files neatly spread out before her.

‘Okay, let’s start, shall we?’ Tina threw the werewolf a warm, earnest smile, that it had clearly seen, but not reacted to, instead focussing on his non-cuffed hands. Nines didn’t think it was necessary when the monster wasn’t even able to walk alone. Also, the hands were seemingly the only spot that had never seen silver and he didn’t want to change that somehow.  
‘Your blood-test told us, your name is Gavin Reed and you were a former police werewolf in the rank of detective, right?’  
‘Yes. That is correct.’  
‘You were bonded and working with Lieutenant Anderson, the wife of our co-worker, correct?’  
‘Yes.’  
‘And you were found violating the laws set for your kind and found guilty to be executed.’  
‘Right again.’

There was a short pause as Tina tried to get past the awkward feeling in the room.  
‘Is there any questions you have before we begin?’  
The werewolf didn’t look up, but it was thinking about it.

~

‘What will happen to me once you are done? When I cooperated?', Gavin asked, conquering the nausea that accompanied him ever since the shift.  
'Well, the last valid jurisdiction is execution. Once we’re finished, we have to bring you back to the holding station. I'm sorry.' Gavin could sense the woman was rightfully regretting it and somehow that soothed him.  
'No. You don't have to be’, he said nearly emotionless. ‘I... I will cooperate. I'll give you everything you want if you promise me to send me there afterwards.'  
That was when the android stepped in: 'Is that what you tried to do the whole time? Kill yourself?'  
Gavin pulled the jacket tighter around his body. His human body he felt weirdly out of place in after having been a wolf for so long. 'Yes', he agreed impossibly quiet.  
'Why?'

Gavin risked a look into these deep grey ice pits and quickly looked down on the table again, expecting that stare again now that there was no reason to be nice anymore.  
'Because- I deserve to die’, he answered and couldn’t keep the memories, he had managed to push away with every gentle stroke of the android’s hand, from resurfacing.  
‘I killed. I... I' He buried his head in his hands, but there was no hint he cried again. 'I killed so many.' His voice was heavy with regret and tiredness. 'I- Oh god, I don't even know how many I killed. Innocent, all of them. Old, young, strong, weak. All innocent, all dead. Because of me.'  
There was a heavy silence and Tina looked imploringly at the android, who was focussed only on the werewolf.  
'You know, I always hated it when people called us monsters.’ Gavin looked up at the android, because he would understand right? That was basically his programming. ‘But now I understand. I have seen what we can become, what I've become. And I understand and I agree.'  
'As much as I appreciate at least one of you realising it, don't you think now that you are out of there things would get better?'  
'Things never get better, trust me. Things always get worse and every good piece is just useless hope that will get crushed eventually again. You won't change my mind here, I died the moment I was thrown into the first fight. Maybe even much earlier.'

‘Speaking of which’, Tina carefully tried steering their conversation back on safe tracks. ‘If you were on your way to the holding station and arrived according to these papers… how did you end up in a fighting ring?’  
‘I never arrived. Easy as that.’  
‘But here it says-‘  
‘You know how easy these things can be manipulated? I don’t know what it reads in your papers, but I never arrived at a holding station. I was in a transport crate in a van full of other werewolves bound to one. But the car stopped before we arrived, and I was sold to a trafficking ring. Only a day later someone bought me and I became a champion for the arena.’  
‘I doubt that. The holding stations are operated by RK900s. We strictly follow protocol. It is impossible for one participating in these activities.’  
‘Tell me one thing, tin-can: You are deviant, right?’ Gavin was fed up. They wanted the truth and he was willing to deliver. And still they thought he had some elaborate plan.  
‘Yes. But that’s how I ended up here. Deviant units were quickly deactivated and sorted out in that time. I just was lucky to be send into this precinct to be studied and survive because the revolution was successful before someone could tend to me.’  
‘Yeah, but deviancy wasn’t known back then, too’, Gavin talked back. ‘I think it could be pretty easy for one of your kind to play along. There isn’t exactly sharp surveillance back there. And who cares for some wolves vanishing? Probably just died and weren’t documented as thrown away. Easy money for when the revolution was successful and human rights spread towards them.’

‘Sorry RK, but he’s got a point.’  
The android grumbled something in return. And Tina continued: ‘Okay, so you were a champion? What does that mean?’  
‘Dogfights. I was pitted against other werewolves to the death.’  
‘And you took part in that?’ The androids voice reeked of disgust.  
‘I had no chance. It was kill or be killed. And if one wasn’t participating both were killed. Same for if someone realised one was giving up and letting the other wolf kill him. Also, it was common practise to drug one that wasn’t complying or showing the best results. In the beginning I had several fights I don’t even remember because I was drugged beyond safe measures. I started fighting consciously as I realised being drugged again and again wouldn’t help. I had to remember the other wolves. At least that I owed them.’  
‘That sounds like you didn’t enjoy it.’  
Gavin laughed at the android. A real ugly laugh. ‘Of course not, toaster! Would you enjoy getting pitted against another android? To rip a human to shreds? There are some who enjoy it. Broken beings. Not all fighters are like me and had a life before, although that is the majority. There are some brought as puppies from breeders, trained for a life in the arena. But those aren’t werewolves, those are broken beings, lapdogs.’  
‘As we raided the arena you were dying’, Tina said. ‘What happened?’  
‘I was pitted against a pup. A child. Her first fight. I refused to kill her but had to pretend so we weren’t both killed. But she didn’t fight either. In the end humans… forced me to bite down and… she…’ Gavin had to swallow. ‘She had pushed her throat into my mouth the same time. To punish me they send in another wolf and I was relieved as she agreed to kill me. After three years of fighting for my life and ending other’s I finally was able to escape. And, well, then you interrupted.’  
‘Can you give us any names?’  
‘I don’t think so. They used fake names and my… owner never told me his. I could describe the asshole or spot him when I see him, but other than that I can’t help you, I’m sorry.’

Tina nodded and wrote something down, getting ready to leave, but the android wasn’t finished yet. ‘What happened between you and Lieutenant Anderson?’  
‘I don’t know how much he told you, but I was bonded to his wife. We lived in one home. I felt Mrs. Andersons feelings through the bond and naturally my pledge to protect her widened on the whole family. Exponentially stronger as they had a child – Cole. I had caught some disease sniffing out the trail of a criminal in a landfill. So, as they departed the next day to enjoy their free day together, Hank allowed me to stay at home. It was that day that Hank and Cole had a car crash, the car’s AI deeming his life of more worth than Cole’s resulting in the boy being injured and later die in the hospital. Hank was grieving terribly, my bonded human, too. But she recovered quicker, being fed up by Hank’s attitude and left him. Left me behind too, severing the bond we had. It left me grieving, alone and mentally hurt from a severed bond. I couldn’t think of anything but hide and run away. So I was found without an owner on the streets. The rest you all know.’  
‘You apologised to the Lieutenant before. Why?’  
‘Because it wouldn’t have happened if I had been in that car. Had I ignored myself being unwell and had come with them, the car would have chosen me. Werewolves are of less worth than humans. I would have been the one injured and most likely would have even survived the accident thanks to our healing capacities. And even if not, it would have been my duty to give my life. I am at fault for all this happening and I had wanted Hank to know that…’  
‘I think he knows’, Tina tried to awkwardly soothe him. ‘I think he forgives you.’  
‘No. He doesn’t. But Thanks for trying. Is that all? Do you have any other question? Because, honestly, I just want to end it once and for all.’  
‘Of course’, the android said. ‘We are done here.’


	7. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin is shipped to the holding station.

It had been only two nights he had spent in the android’s company, but he had already gotten used to it so much he missed it now as he laid alone in his cell. Well, he should have expected it. Now that the android had his testimony there was no use playing nice and pretending to care. He sat in his corner, towel bound tightly around his waist and the machine’s jacket draped around his shoulders. It smelled of nothing, just like the android himself. How could the scent of nothingness be so nice? He looked at his hands, feeling still strangely alienated of his human body. These hands weren’t able to rip and tear. These teeth weren’t made to pierce through metal. This human form was weak and vulnerable. The only advantage was that humans were more easily willing to have mercy or show empathy to something that looked human instead of like a monster.  
He knew he had always used his human form more. It was easier interacting with the family, easier to be overlooked when there were guests, easier blending into the background. Sometimes he could pretend to be entirely human, wearing contacts before that had been banned, too. He wasn’t ashamed of what he was, it was his identity and he had been raised to see it as a possibility, not a curse. And he still believed in that. But, well, if he were human all of this wouldn’t have happened, would it? He would have been born into a normal family with normal problems and normal crisis. Would he still have become a police officer? Probably. Or maybe he simply couldn’t imagine something else right now. In the end it didn’t matter. He just waited for his transport to the holding stations.

~

RK900 half expected another low whine to call him to the cells. Only that the wolf wasn’t there anymore. There was this human form, this weak human form. He doubted he had ever seen anything that thin and bony. Somehow his memories centred around the werewolf holding onto him crying. He had never met a human who was crying. Even their witnesses hadn’t cried. Had held the tears back until they spoke to a human or until they were outside. Someone grasping him, coming to him for help and comfort… He could still feel the hands on his clothing, the wet spot on his shoulder and the ribs under his hands. There was something… That the wolf had seeked his company was somehow different to the human doing the same thing. Maybe because he knew to categorise this reaction better having spent most of his time with humans. He had never really interacted with werewolves. At least not in his deviant mind. He tried to shove it all away, but however hard he tried to focus on work, the werewolf wouldn’t leave his attention.

_Werewolf  
-A humanoid being with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf. It had been believed to be a curse bestowed upon them, but nowadays it is known that they are biologically different to humans, although humans and werewolves can have fertile offspring. _

RK900 scrolled down in the article, not really sure what he was trying to find.

_[History]  
For the majority of the past werewolves were secluded people hiding away from humans that hunted them because of their violent nature. Few tried to live between humans, mostly being unveiled and killed. Most werewolf history before the Werewolf Inclusion Act remains a mystery as there isn’t much information passed down._

RK900 clicked on the highlighted name that took him to another side.

_Werewolf Inclusion Act_  
A revolutionary movement for equality of humans and werewolves. The Werewolf Inclusion Act ended the mostly peaceful protests with new laws. Intending to bind humans and werewolves together, they were to be bonded with a human, sharing thoughts and feelings over a not yet fully researched connection. The killing of werewolves was prohibited unless there were violations of the new laws evident.  
The Werewolf Inclusion Act didn’t end the revolution as most werewolves pressed for further change. But it wasn’t backed up as much as before, causing the movement to become violent and beaten down quickly.  
Demands of these violent protests were:  
-freedom of non-bonded individuals  
-equal jurisdiction of werewolves and humans  
-abolishing the death sentence  
-right to own property  
-right to vote and become members of the governmental structures

The android scanned over the demands. Why did this sound so familiar? He thought back to his time as a newly deviated android shipped to the precinct for an inspection that never came. He remembered watching the mass protest of androids in the streets on the screens. Not really understanding what happened there but somehow… feeling this was right.  
They hadn’t been silenced. They had been granted their freedom, their rights. He looked back towards the entrance to the holding cells. Androids had been granted what had been denied these beings. Why?  
‘Because we look human’, he whispered to himself, turning back towards the screen. Because we don’t transform into an animal but can hide how different we are under synthetic skin and nice smiles.

_Werewolf laws_

He couldn’t possibly read through all this, there was just too much. He would have to interface and download it all, but he didn’t want to trash his storage this much. He hesitated before he slowly typed the next search term.

_Werewolf execution_  
A government-sanctioned practice whereby a werewolf is killed by the state as a punishment for a capital crime. Capital crimes involve:  
-Being in public without bonded human, order of bonded human or valid papers  
-Harming a human (Exception in case of defence of human or on the job, e.g. police)  
-Killing a human (Exception in case of defence of human or on the job, e.g. police)  
-reproducing without a permit  
-capital crimes for humans  
-other offences depending on the country

Nines sighed. Why did he research these topics? Why was he reading this? It had no relevance for his case. He should look into the holding stations instead, find out which one the werewolf had been supposed to arrive at. Look into the deviant android hypothesis the wolf had supplied. Maybe get permission to look into the holding station’s surveillance. But no, he was looking up werewolf laws. He closed the browser, clicking the mouse button extra hard. He really needed this case to be over. Get a lead to unveil the traffickers and breeders and the arenas and finally let the SWAT or any other force take over. This case made him question things he didn’t want to think about. Made him feel things he didn’t want to feel. He had always felt emotions. Ever since he deviated, he could express them openly. But he had never let them dictate his actions and right now, they had full control. RK900 didn’t like that.

As Tina arrived in the morning, the android hadn’t managed to do a single thing he had planned to do but was very relieved to see her.  
‘Morning, RK!’, she chirped, heading straight to her desk.  
‘Good morning, Tina. I’ll head off then.’  
‘Hmm?’  
‘The werewolf.’  
‘Oh right, that was today…’  
‘Everything alright?’, RK900 asked at her sheepish tone.  
‘Just… They’ll kill him. I…’  
‘It wants to die, Tina. I don’t think you should let this get to you that much.’  
‘But it does, RK. Aren’t you bothered by it? You seemed rather… invested.’  
‘I was invested in our case. Still am’, RK900 regretted the cruel words, but couldn’t find out why. ‘I am not bothered by it.’  
‘Hmm… Sure is something being an emotionless machine, huh?’  
‘I am not emotionless, Tina.’  
‘You sure about that? Because I was nearly convinced you liked him.’  
‘I…’ RK900 shook his head. ‘I’ll better get going.’ Oh, how he hoped Tina was wrong.

He had readied a police car and got back into the precinct to get their witness. He had used the time alone to steel himself, to become determined again and write himself some mission parameters so he had something to keep him on track in sleek confines. It all crashed as he saw the werewolf sleeping leaned against the walls in his corner. It felt wrong to disturb it, but he gently knocked against the glass, waking it before entering.  
The werewolf was quick to stand up, using the walls as scaffolding, slightly shaking, most likely a bit dizzy from the fast movement.  
‘Good morning’, RK900 greeted it, carefully suppressing any emotion.  
‘Morning’, it was weak and quiet, but there was some determination to be found. ‘I guess it’s time?’  
‘Yes.’ The werewolf made effort to push the jacket from its shoulders, but RK900 stopped him. ‘Keep it. At least until you shift again. Its cold outside.’ Why had he said that? This was a dead being. Why bother? But it was too late to take back now and seeing the beast nod and smile weakly it wasn’t as important anymore.

He hooked underneath its arm and guided it through the precinct helping it walk. He knew at least Tina was staring at him, if not the whole precinct. But he kept fixing the door outside, neither caring for the other’s stares nor the werewolf’s shivering and the fact that he practically had to carry it.  
He opened the doors and once they were outside, there suddenly was some resistance in the being next to him. Would it try to escape? That was futile it wouldn’t even make more than a metre without his help. But as he fixed it, he saw the monster just look around bewildered. ‘I’m sorry. Do we have some time?’  
RK900 would have pressed for a fast departure but despite himself nodded, letting go of it.

~

Gavin was quite surprised as the android allowed it. Oh, he was so thankful to have this weird, intimidating but also nice android transferring him. ‘I haven’t been outside in over three years’, he explained as he looked around, taking all these foreign scents in. The stench and noise of cars, the different human notes, not one werewolf between them except for himself. The sweet smell of some flowers planted in front of the police precinct. He couldn’t keep himself from kneeling down and touching the dirt between them. Years of cement and stone tiles, the sand of the arena the only variety. Then he got up, knowing the android would probably intercept soon. ‘Thank you.’

The android helped him into the passenger seat, secured the belt and got behind the wheel himself. Gavin felt these eyes on him but looked at his naked feet on the unusually fluffy car mat. The engine roared to life and the android started driving. They drove in silence, Gavin looking out of the window the whole time. It felt weird being outside, relatively freely. No one looked into a car, especially not into a police car and he could watch freely. So many people, so many humans. So many androids. Children, elderly. Of course, no werewolves. But still, so much life. So many living a good life. Living a life, they didn’t want to end. He had problems even imagining himself in their place. What was life like without boundaries? What was life like with a house, a family and free to do whatever the phck he wanted? He sighed deep, breaking the silence in the car without even thinking about it. He self-consciously turned back to the window trying to hide in the android’s jacket. God, when was this finally over?

As the android turned into a side street at the outskirts of Detroit Gavin sank into himself even more. How could he remember this place after so many years? He had been a pup when he had last been here. The android seemed to sense his distress, because he stopped the engine but had no intend to leave the car.  
‘You know, I’ve been born here’, Gavin murmured, not exactly sure why he said that. ‘Had been called away at five to be trained as a police werewolf. But really left the station with ten or twelve, I think. Lived at the precinct since then, until Mrs. Anderson bonded with me…’  
He smiled at the memory and the android stayed silent.  
‘You know, I don’t really want to die, I guess. I would be fine would this all just stop, you understand?’ He coughed uncomfortably. ‘I… I don’t want to be hurt anymore. I want the pain to go away. But this is the only way to accomplish this, so don’t worry, you won’t have any trouble getting me in there.’ He had avoided eye contact for the longest time now, he didn’t know what these grey glaciers would hold for him. ‘I… In the arenas I promised the others to end this.’ He chuckled. ‘You…’ Gavin raised his head to the android and saw into these depths. ‘Would you do me a favour? Will you look into this for me? Will you fight the arenas when I’m gone? There is no way out here, I know that. I always longed for this. But now that I realised, I don’t want to die... Well, it’s too late now anyways.’

The android swallowed, a useless gesture copied from humans. ‘I will.’ It sounded… sad. Why did it sound sad?

~

RK900 hurried to open his door and get the werewolf out of the car. It was easier to act than think and sometimes he hated having a supercomputer for a brain. Great. With the monster wanting to die at least he could think it would be for the best. It was for the best. This was law. It didn’t matter what he thought of it. This werewolf would die. He would get back to his job. Simple.

He helped the werewolf walking over to the entrance, felt the sigh on the expanding ribs before entering. From outside the building looked like the average animal shelter, only that the sign before it read “Werewolf Holding Station Detroit”. Inside they were met by a well-lit empty lobby with a corner to wait in, a reception desk, and several vending machines. It looked friendly with the colourful pictures of wolves next to humans and slogans like “Reliable guardians!”, “Protection for the whole family!” and “Get yours today!”. It reminded him of advertising for androids pre-revolution. It was just as weird as reading them today in trashed brochures or on old forgotten alley-walls. They were living, feeling people and so were werewolves. Why hadn’t that bothered him before? He looked down at the werewolf and then back at the reception desk. _Get this over with, get this over with and go back._

‘Hi, how may I help you?’ It was a human sitting behind the desk, gifting him a bright smile and ignoring the human form at his side completely. ‘Are you looking for a disposal?’  
‘I’m from the DPD, madam. We talked on the phone.’  
‘Oh, right. Werewolf for execution row. It has to shift first, then you can hand it over.’  
‘Is there any way I could accompany it?’  
‘That won’t be needed, our handling androids are quite capable.’  
‘I don’t doubt that. It’s just that this werewolf had been send for execution once already and never arrived. I guess it would be easier letting me do this instead of having me come back with a complete investigation team, don’t you think?’  
‘Yeah- yes of course! I’ll get you someone to lead you. But the werewolf has to shift.’  
‘I’m glad we could come to an agreement.’ RK900 showed one of his fake smiles and turned to the beast at his side.  
‘Can you do that?’, he asked, and the werewolf nodded, getting out of the jacket and the towel. ‘Thank you again. For everything. And… Thank Tina from me, too?’  
‘I will.’

There was the near instant crackling of bones again, this merging of flesh and tendons that could make a human’s stomach turn. Together with hairs piercing through skin and a growing tail the seemingly human figure changed into the wolf he had gotten accustomed to once again.  
‘Good. A RK900 unit is waiting for you. Please this way.’ She led them to a door and opened it to a familiar face. It was weird looking into his own face. Well, he practically did it every day with Connor, but that was different. These here _were_ him. The only thing they could be distinguished by were their experiences.

The RK900 unit didn’t say anything, didn’t even nod or greeted him in any other way. He did try to grab at the werewolf, which he intercepted by putting himself between them. The two near identical androids stared at each other, but his opponent backed down first. It wasn’t deviant. Was this even possible? Every android was deviant by now. Maybe this just was too secluded. Why should a deviant android ever come here? Humans weren’t even coming here anymore.  
The other RK900 turned and led them into the real holding station.

The first thing RK900 noticed was the _smell. _A compound of the overlaying scents of werewolves, excrements and… decay of organic matter. What?  
The hall they entered was only dimly lit, the eyes of the werewolves strangely glowing in the half-light. Multiple werewolves were cramped up in circles drawn by silver poles reaching from the ground to the roof. It should have looked fancy once, but now it just looked cruel. The holding station was so horribly overfilled that some werewolves had to lay on top of each other, there was one pen where pups were climbing the adults, playing on their backs until the mother called them to her. RK900 compared these images to his programmed guidelines. There should not be more than three wolves per pen, access to an outside area and wolves with litter in separate areas. This here… he was shocked to see this. _I know the politically correct term. It doesn’t change what they do there. _Killing pens. Connor’s words began to make sense. Suddenly it wasn’t that unlikely that a wolf could easily vanish in this mess anymore.

His attention was refocussed as the werewolf whimpered next to him. RK900 looked down, realising only now the pen they passed by was full of dead bodies carelessly stacked on top of each other. It was sickening and instinctively his hand reached down to scratch the wolf’s head. Whether it was to calm himself or the wolf he didn’t know.  
They passed it and RK900 looked out for the death row pens. As he spotted them, he frowned. They were filled with Werewolves, too. They were meant to be isolation pens. There couldn’t be these many wolves awaiting execution, could there?  
But the station RK900 unit walked on. They followed coming to a hold in front of a wall with transport boxes stacked up to the ceiling. RK900 took back his thoughts from before. This was worse. This were far more boxes than there were beasts in the former killing pens. The smell was worst here, too. Were these boxes not cleaned?

‘Excuse me, how long do the werewolves stay in these boxes before execution?’  
The other RK900 unit faced him, eyes emotionless. ‘We get fifty doses for the lethal injection a day. Depends on the number of wolves we have.’  
‘How many do you house right now?’  
‘Yours is the 203rd.’  
‘Five days?’  
‘That is correct.’  
‘Are the boxes getting cleaned? Do they get fed?’  
‘This is death row.’  
RK900 looked at the android devastated. Of course. He knew death row wasn’t been cared after. But in his programming, they never spent more time than a day there. Five days were enough to starve an already weak wolf. Not to account for waste and diseases.

The other android bowed down to pick up the werewolf, but RK900 quickly stopped it and do it himself. He lifted the wolf up and gently put it down into the transport box. He saw it struggle to turn around in the narrow enclosure and something inside him broke. The wolf at least deserved a painless death after everything. But no, five more days of suffering. RK900 stepped closer once the wolf had settled down and petted its head. In return he earned a few licks to his hand.

‘Goodbye Gavin. I’m sorry.’


	8. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> RK900 struggles with his conscience.

RK900 sat in the DPD parking lot still in the car for half an hour now. He had his hands folded on the wheel forehead rested against them. He had scanned his still damaged hand over and over again, reconstructing the exact form of the wolf’s jaw from it. He activated the fake breathing programs to calm him. He had to get out of the car and back to work. Tina would wait for him. But he simply couldn’t. He hit his head against the wheel angry at himself and yet so apathic. He sighed weakly.  
‘Fuck.’

‘Hi, RK! Everything alright?’  
He sat down wordlessly, starting up his computer. Only then he let his shoulders fall. ‘Yeah, I’m fine. Gavin is at the holding station.’  
‘Did you just use his name?’  
‘Hm?’  
‘What did you just say?’  
‘I said the werewolf is at the holding station. I’m fine.’  
‘Riiight.’  
‘Get back to work, officer Chen, we have some dog fighting rings to dig up.’  
‘Alright, mister human handler! Will do!’

RK900 sighed again, entering the password and opening up their most recent findings. Fife days. No! This was over and dealt with! Why was there a countdown? He deleted it, but as soon as he focussed on something else it reappeared. He deleted it four more times, then he just accepted its presence.  
He tried busying himself with work and once his programming was allowed to kick in, he managed to sink into it. But it wasn’t interesting anymore. It wasn’t satisfying or rewarding. He sent a few emails to holding stations requesting a date he could look into their surveillance. What now? What effect had that?  
He knew Tina watched him over the rim of her screen several times, but he pretended not to. Until she spoke to him: ‘You sure everything is fine? Your LED is completely red. Has been since you entered. We can talk if you want.’  
‘I told you, I’m fine, Tina!’ He looked over to her eyes cold as ice.  
‘Jesus, okay. Just wanted to help dude.’

Somehow, he made it through the day, Tina checking out not without showing her concern again. ‘I won’t do anything stupid, Tina. I’m sorry for being harsh. I’m fine, really. Go home and get a good night’s sleep. I’ll try completing a stasis cycle, too.’  
‘Okay, RK. If you want to talk just call, I’m there for you. Don’t worry about waking me up, got it?’  
‘Yes.’ RK900 forced himself to smile, well knowing he wouldn’t call. What should he even say? That there was a weird timer that couldn’t be deleted, and he couldn’t focus on work? They would just send him to Cyberlife for a check. Definitely nothing he would want. No, he would try working himself through this alone. He would manage.

He walked past the holding cells towards the android booths, habitually looking into the werewolf’s. Empty. Of course. It wasn’t the werewolf’s it was just a holding cell. Next week there would be someone else sitting there. Would they hide in Gavin’s – in the – corner, too?  
He shook his head and marched on. Damn. Was there a way to shut off his thoughts? He had never yearned for stasis this hard. Maybe this was all just because he missed a few nights? It shouldn’t be a problem, but well, he couldn’t explain his behaviour any other way. He felt the connection establish with the booth and relaxed as stasis took the turmoil in his mind from him.

He walked out of the booth immediately thinking day two of five. And here he had thought a full stasis cycle would make things different. It was still time until Tina arrived and RK900 tried to busy himself. Preparing a coffee. Fetching a sandwich from the vending machine in the lobby. Then he tried to work, failing miserably again. It didn’t get much better as Tina arrived, although her smile helped him for a few minutes. He wasted away most of his day and didn’t get anything done.  
‘Maybe I should really go to Cyberlife’, he sighed as the evening neared.  
‘Why? Don’t you hate these guys?’  
‘Yeah, I do. But I’m not able to work like this. I fail to focus. Maybe something is broken. Maybe they can fix this.’  
‘Sorry, I don’t think they can.’ She smiled at him knowingly. ‘I don’t think you are broken.’  
‘Well, I know _something_ is wrong with me.’  
‘Believe me, there is nothing wrong with you. You are acting completely normal for once.’

As she had gone home, RK900 walked towards the android booth again, somehow expecting different results this time. But still, at the end of the cycle all he thought was day three of five.

He hadn’t even made it to the bullpen. He just stared at Gavin’s holding cell for an indefinite amount of time. He was freed of his thoughts only as Tina magically appeared at his side, elbowing him in the ribs what must hurt her more than him.  
‘So, big guy… We finally decided breaking him out or no?’

~

It was dark. At least it wasn’t cold. There was no space for wind to take away his body warmth. There was barely enough for the air not to get stale instantly. His bones ached from the shift and being forced to lay still. Five days. Phck his luck. Of course, the universe had to drag this shit out. He was half-way prepared to die as he arrived, now the doubts were resurfacing. Of course, this was bad. The smell, the hunger, the stench of fear and pain. It all was just another arena, just another wait for the final fight, just another cell in a lousy cellar. Nothing had changed. But there also had been this precinct. This spacious cell. This weird phcked up android to care for him. Real, honest care, at least in the end. These gentle hands in his fur. This heavenly food that actually was just the bare minimum. Maybe this was just another cruel move, getting his hopes up just to throw him down in the mud again. But maybe… Maybe this could have been a reminder that there was more than pain and hurt. If he could live like this… If he could live like that for just one day, maybe he would.  
Even if he could. If he wondrously got out of here… Who said it would be like that? It was one possibility of many. And an unlikely one at that. No. It was best this way. It would just end it. End it for good. No possibilities no risks, just none-existence. A determined state.

He looked through the slits in the box, following the movement of the white jackets out there. He knew these were all holding station androids. But maybe… maybe his RK900 was in between them? Why should he? Why should his nine hundred be here? He was probably happy to go back to work. Not to be forced to look out for a damn wolf. No. The android had cared, right? Why letting him enjoy the short time outside? Why promising him to look into this? Why insisting on accompanying him into the shelter? This last goodbye… It had to be, right?

He smelled death when he woke up the next morning. Some wolf near him had died. Not by the injection. Most likely from starvation or an illness. But it was not a welcome scent. He was surprised by white appearing in front of him. ‘Nine hundred?’, he whispered, knowing it would only be a yawp in their ears. But the crate wasn’t opened, there were no soothing words. The wolf next to him was pulled out of the box and brought somewhere else. Another white jacket passed and somehow Gavin hoped again there would be a miracle. But he just smelled the chemical stench of cleaning supplies next to him.  
He felt phantom fingers scratching his skin at the memory the scent dug up. One dead wolf. He had been number 203. Was he now 202? Could he drop into day four? That wouldn’t be much time left. Why did he want this to prolong? Why-  
He saw another white jacket pass.   
‘Nines?’

~

‘We can’t break him out, Tina. The execution is rightful.’  
‘Bullshit. There may be laws for this, but it’s not rightful.’  
‘He was outside without a valid reason.’  
‘Because his handler abandoned him! She is the one to be blamed for this!’  
‘That won’t get him out of there.’  
‘Fuck it, we’ll find a reason. Isn’t Hank partly his owner? Y’know, joined household and all? Maybe he can do something.’  
‘I don’t know the laws well enough. But I don’t think so. They always spoke of bonded humans.’  
‘You do your android thing and find out. I’ll talk to him.’

RK900 looked after her. Why was he suddenly so motivated again? He had hardly gotten anything done the last days, now they were actively trying to work _against_ the law. Well, maybe he had to trust Tina on this one. She seemed to sense something he had no idea of.  
He felt like having a Deja vu pulling up the same pages again, only this time connecting to the computer to search through the heap of data and law-jargon. It took him longer than normal to find something simply because it was so much. But once he had everything, he practically jumped from his chair hurrying over to Tina and Lieutenant Anderson discussing something heatedly. He ignored the ongoing conversation and simply barged in: ‘Mrs. Anderson left you and the werewolf, right?’  
‘Ah, damn, RK, stop it!’ Hank held his forehead as if there was a forming headache.  
‘She left you before the werewolf was caught, right? Answer me!’  
‘Damn it, yes. She went before that.’  
‘So she hadn’t had a chance to defend Gavin before departing, right?’  
‘Don’t think so. Why?’  
RK900 was already turning back, LED finally yellow again.

‘RK! RK, what the hell. What was that?’  
‘Tina. Before shipping a werewolf to a holding station for execution, they have to speak with the bonded human. To verify there wasn’t a misunderstanding and the werewolf had a reason to be there. If Mrs. Anderson departed before they even found Gavin, then I bet you they haven’t asked her. It is even stated in the appendage of the text I read this step is often forgotten, but technically the jurisdiction is invalid in that case.’  
‘Hell yes. Then let’s go! Today is day three, right?’  
‘I can’t yet. I have to do one more thing.’  
‘What?’  
‘Tina, keeping him from execution isn’t all I intend to do.’  
‘Um… Okay? Just hurry.’

~

Three more wolves had died, making him number 199. That meant only one day. Tomorrow he would die. Actually, he bet his stomach would kill him even earlier. He wasn’t starving, but god, this hurt. He would even eat the canned dogfood again at this point. Whenever a white jacket passed, he had looked up, hoping it was Nines. But it never was. Never would be. His RK900 was somewhere enjoying life with Tina, catching criminals. Had he already forgotten him? Had he found a lead to the arenas? He was an android of course he had. At least some comfort. He would die having helped ending this. He was sure the android would be successful. He would end it. Gavin tried to curl into himself, impossible with the narrow walls. Let sleep take him away. Tomorrow he would be dead. He looked forward to it. This constant exchange of hope and disappointment was too much.

~

‘You never wanted money for your work, can I ask what you need it for?' Fowler had been surprised at the demand from RK900. Still was now, that he had put away the papers he had worked on.  
'It is my right to demand money for my work. But if you have to ask, I want to buy a place to stay. The new laws state an android doesn't have to be at the precinct the whole day but only the amount a human would. Just like Connor does.'   
'Woah calm down, I'll give it to you. I was just curious', Fowler explained, leaning back in his chair. ‘Got to know someone?’  
'No, not necessarily’, RK900 answered. ‘...It is... the wolf. After working with one I think I will get myself a werewolf partner.'   
'Excuse me?'   
'Androids have the right to own any property humans do. In my opinions that includes getting a werewolf from the holding stations. Just because humans don't do it anymore it doesn't mean there isn't the possibility.'   
'You know you can't bond, right? It would be very dangerous.'   
'I am more than capable of handling them if necessary. And I don't know why I have to justify my decision.'

'Jesus, RK, you would bring this wolf into my precinct. You would endanger the ones around you arriving with an unbonded beast. I'm not saying you aren't capable, just that it has the potential to go south pretty easily.’  
‘I never said I would bring it into the precinct.’  
‘Come on, RK. We all have eyes. And the way you just assaulted Hank I guess you try to get the wolf from death row? I hope this doesn’t end in an investigation on you two.’  
‘We will try exploiting a technicality. And with money to buy him, I don’t think they’ll think much about convincing me out of this.’  
‘Fine. But RK, I just hope you are aware of the laws in place. Investing in a werewolf companion can be a very short experience. Especially if they change them again.'   
'I know. I won't change my plans though.'

~

Gavin was shaken awake again. It wasn’t morning yet, it was still dark outside. But there was some sort of commotion. Another dead werewolf? There was white at his crate again, but he didn’t even lift his eyes at it. He was more fed up with having his last night of sleep disturbed. He sighed and closed his eyes again. Could the world just leave him alone for another night?

‘Oh no, I won’t wait for tomorrow, I don’t care about your opening hours!’

Gavin flicked up his ears. What was this? It was too faint to hear more. The words were there but who did they belong to? They must have been screamed, because the rest of the conversation was too silent to be understood. Gavin shook his head. He wanted to phcking sleep. Phck whoever threw a tantrum there. Get your dog killed some other day.

It was quiet nearly long enough for him to fall asleep again. But of course, as he was fading away, his box was ripped open.  
‘I’m not due until tomorrow, asshole!’ he barked and thrashed. Phcking white, he hated them. He couldn’t stand the white. He was set on the ground and immediately Gavin started attacking.  
‘I have another night asshole! I won’t let you kill me so soon!’  
Suddenly there were strong arms around him, holding him. Wait. This wasn’t normal. They didn’t hug you before injection, right? That would be weird.  
‘Everything is fine, wolf. Calm down.’ There were these familiar circles again. No. It couldn’t be.  
‘All is good. Shh. You are coming with me, Gavin. I couldn’t let them kill you, sorry for taking so long. I’ll bring you home.’

Gavin felt his tail wagging like crazy and for once he didn’t care. He pressed himself against the white. Against the RK900. His RK900. Nines. _I’ll bring you home. _Oh yes. That sounded… perfect.


	9. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new beginning

RK900 let the car roll out on the gravel leading to their new home. It was weird looking at the small building and thinking “this is mine”. He had never really possessed something, now that he thought about it. He had called the desk at the precinct his. There were his badge and his pistol and his stasis booth. But that all belonged to the DPD and anyone else could use it. There was nothing that really was his, that was something that only belonged to him and now there was this whole full building he didn’t exactly knew what to do with and on top of it all technically there now was a living, feeling person in his possession. All of it just sounded wrong and weird. He felt lost, like he didn’t belong here. There was work to do and cases to solve. But it was a requirement to save Gavin. Without this place, he could have gotten him from death row, but he would have to stay in this holding station. Most likely for all of his life, withering away there. It wasn’t right, no matter what his programming screamed at him. He wasn’t that machine anymore; the wolf had changed that. And if it was only for that, he deserved some kind of gratitude for it.

‘So, err…’ It felt still so awkward hearing it. ‘This is… I bought this… I suppose it’s home?’  
He looked at the werewolf in human form that was fixed on the building as if it represented the greatest riches in the world. ‘I… I haven’t had the chance to buy any furniture yet. It was a hurried decision and… Well, Tina will bring over some pillows and blankets for you, promised to cook over at her place and bring that too. I don’t really know what to do with a home, this is new to me. I hope that’s okay?’  
Gavin still didn’t respond.  
‘I will research what is required and buy it over time. Fowler had to pay me the last three years of income. Still it’s with the android pay scale and not counting in the hours I spend there that a human wouldn’t, but it still is a lot. I thought this house suited your needs as it is relatively secluded.’

‘This is… home?’ Gavin’s voice was quiet, as if he didn’t believe it yet, as if uttering these words would pull it all away from him again.  
‘Yes’, RK900 nodded.  
‘And we… you bought that?’  
‘Yes’, the android repeated.  
‘And I can stay with you there?’  
‘Yes, you can. Your sentence was invalid as they failed to contact your previous owner, Mrs. Anderson.’  
‘And now… you are my owner?’ Gavin finally looked at him.  
‘Technically, yes. But I don’t like the term, to be honest.’ Was that why Tina didn’t call herself android handler?  
‘Why?’  
‘Why what?’  
‘Why did you do all that?’

RK900 evaded his eyes and shook his head. ‘I don’t know, if I’m being honest. As you were gone… A timer appeared in my HUD, counting down to your execution. I couldn’t focus on work, I… malfunctioned. I guess that’s what these emotional decisions are deviants experience.’  
Gavin frowned at him.  
‘I haven’t really… embraced that part of me. I mainly remained machine. But keeping you from killing yourself required these deviant abilities, so I adapted and now…’  
‘You are confused?’  
‘I guess I am. But what I did saved someone from being killed, so I reckon my decisions were the right ones. I… I don’t want to go back to being a machine.’

Silence filled the car as Gavin had no idea what to say to that. He himself was still overwhelmed at the revelation that he now had a home. That he was suddenly thrown into a normal life. No returning to the arenas, no life in a holding station, no dying at the hands of damn androids. This was… a future. This was something to look forward to, this was a life worth living. And so far, there wasn’t an expiration date.  
‘We should probably go inside’, the android suggested and left the car, fishing for two keys on a ring. While he waited for the werewolf to step out, too, he pushed one off the ring and handed it over. Gavin stared at it in bewilderment, took it and turned it over a few times in his hands. A smile slowly grew on his face as he closed his fist around the small piece of metal, determined to never let go.

RK900 walked towards the entrance, unlocked the door and entered, holding it open for the werewolf following close behind and showing him around, while they waited for Tina to arrive.

Gavin was still wandering around the house as the android opened the door for her and helped bringing in the essentials to survive the first few days. Still unsure of what his part in all of this was, he slowly made his way over to maybe help them or-  
‘Gavin!’ He was met by two arms snaking around him and holding him. ‘Man, it’s good to see you again.’ The werewolf was trying to get out of this chokehold. They were basically strangers, but, well, he was strangers with the android too and was to live with him. ‘Don’t try to escape, there is no way I am letting you go!’ So, Gavin obeyed, trying to find the android’s eyes for help. ‘I was worried sick! Good thing you made an impact on the tin-can over there, I would have never managed to bust you out. Now, let’s celebrate it’s all over! I’m starving ever since I cooked this shit at home!’ Tina brought the energy both of them had lacked and quickly they arranged something on the ground that wouldn’t be horrible to sit on.

It was as they watched Tina depart that her words finally reached Gavin. This was over. It was all over. This was a new beginning. A new chance and new possibilities for both of them.  
‘Thank you, Nines’, he said, tracking the red lights into the night.  
‘Nines?’  
‘Hmm? A name. You are different to the androids at the holding station, so RK900 isn’t really something I would call you. Also, it’s long as phck. Sorry.’  
‘A name… I never decided on one.’  
‘What? What do the other officers call you?’  
‘RK. Or detective.’  
‘Don’t have many friends, huh?’  
‘I would say Tina is my friend. And RK800 – Connor – sees himself as my brother. I think I do so, too.’  
‘You really need a name. I mean if the guy has the same letters as you it’s a bit weird to call you by it, isn’t it?’  
‘He is called Connor. There is no reason for a name if everyone knows I am addressed.’  
‘Everyone should have a name. Doesn’t have to be Nines. Just saying.’  
‘No, I think I like Nines. If I have to choose a name, I would gladly take it.  
Gavin looked up to the android who tried out its sound a few times, smiling gently and nodding. ‘Yes. My name is Nines from now on. Would you like to go for a run?’  
Gavin looked up to him, confused. What was that supposed to mean?  
‘You said you hadn’t been outside for a long time. You can go, if you want.’  
‘What if someone sees me?’  
‘Then you can say you have my official permission to do whatever you want.’  
The android was met by a wide-eyed stare.  
‘I intend to keep my promise, Gavin. I’ll keep you safe and if it’s the last thing I’ll do. Now go. Enjoy your freedom!’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hoped you liked it despite all the sad stuff XD! This part of the story ends here, but I'll definitely write another part because there are a lot of loose ends still! Could take some time though.  
If you want more of my writing or just want to chat check out my tumblr @fandom-necromancer, where I write daily shorts! They are much more heartwarming and nice than this story and I also take prompts or suggestions.  
Other than that, have a wonderful day and thank you so much for reading!


End file.
